“How?” cried Zelmaida. “Can there be a more dreadful one than the indiscretion of a Toy? Well, there is no medium left. One must either renounce gallantry, or resolve to pass for a woman of pleasure.”

“Indeed,” said Mirzoza, “the option is severe.”

“No, no, madam,” replied another lady, “you will see that women will fix their resolution. They will allow Toys to prate as much as they please; and will go their own way, without troubling themselves with what the world shall say. And after all, what does it signify, whether it be a woman’s Toy or her lover that proves indiscreet? Are things less exposed?”

“Upon a serious consideration of the whole affair,” continued a third, “if a woman’s adventures must be divulged, ’tis better it should happen by her Toy than her lover.”

“The notion is singular,” said the favorite.