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Rh constant sense of isolation, ever most painful when felt in a crowd. She was a spectator, not a partaker, of the gaiety around; for in truth, gaiety must make some small appeal to our vanity before it is enjoyed. The dance, to be delightful, must have an interest in the partner, or the éclat of display; and both these attractions were wanting to Francesca. In the numbers that surrounded her, there was not one individual for whom she cared, few who even honoured her with passing notice; and she daily heard the beauty and grace extolled to the skies which could not for a moment bear comparison with her own.

One would think that, in society, beauty, instead of lying on the surface, was in the mine, and required discovery; the majority would never discover the loveliness of the Venus de Medici, unless it were pointed out to them. Francesca's feelings were those of all whom a chance circumstance has placed in some brilliant circle without the acknowledged rank or fortune necessary to make their right of entrance; and yet with an innate consciousness of superiority, which makes neglect more bitter, by adding to it a sense of injustice.

There were many who would have felt nothing of all this—who would have made their way by