If a feminine mind could ever properly be called spherical, that
epithet should be applied to Mrs. Staggchase's inner consciousness. She
was so sufficient unto herself, she so absolutely scored success or
failure simply as a matter of her own sensations that her self-poise
was perfect. She had even the quality, rare in a woman, of being almost
indifferent whether others shared her opinions or not. She was content
with the knowledge that she had succeeded in doing what she wished,
while often the results and effects were so subtile and remote as to be
imperceptible to others. Life was to her a toy with which she amused
herself, and she found her chief enjoyment in trying experiments upon
it of which the results were intangible to all but herself.
In the present case it amused Mrs. Staggchase and gave her some
feminine satisfaction as well, to think that Rangely should marry
Frances Merrivale. By promoting this marriage into which she was aware
that he had no intention of being drawn, she avenged herself upon him
for having presumed to show attentions to another while she honored him
with her intimate friendship. It was not so much the nature of the
punishment which pleased her as the fact that she was able to constrain
him to her will. She found an ungenerous satisfaction in proving to
herself that it lay within her power to do with him what she would; and
if this conclusion did not inevitably follow from the premises, her
logic was at least satisfactory to herself, and that was sufficient to
determine her course of action.
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