Constance Smedley and Pearl Humphrey

“ Martin's beautifully dressed head inclined toward her niece with a flattering air of attention to valuable remarks
“That would be charming,” she replied. “Experience would no longer be essential to the right conduct of life.”
“Yes. That's just what I think,” said Nelly, warming toward so promising a pupil. “So much nonsense is talked about experience. People say that one can't profit except by one's own. It's ridiculous. I am starting out with no practical experience at all; but I am just as well equipped as any so-called woman of the world.” ”

“ Martin found herself reflecting that she had told Nelly's mother it would be “a pleasure” to chaperon her daughter. She glanced at her niece, and had a wild vision of what might happen if she let her go to Hurlingham with her theories unshaken. Then she mustered her forces together for pointed speech.
“Then you would be behaving like a shop-girl,” she answered. “Their code of manners differs from ours in more points than one, and that is one of them. Speaking to any unknown man, especially to a cad, would be the most terrible thing you could possibly do in any circumstances.” ”

“ For instance, I, who have planned out exactly how to manage my behavior, must be better off than a girl like Mouse, who plunges into things headlong.”
Mouse was another niece who was sharing Mrs. Martin's ægis.
“Mouse is very popular,” said her aunt, in a non-committal tone.
“But she is so often confused and loses her self-possession,” persisted Nelly. ”