text:  The lady of the mansion you must have perceived to be republican in every sense of the word--clever undoubtedly but as undoubtedly bourgeoise; intelligent in no slight degree but too much in earnest for elegance; perpetually taking the lead on those desperate subjects in which women can only be and ought to be smatterers; and all this to the infinite amusement of her hearers and the unbounded terror of her meek and very helpless husband