She understood--things, and human nature in particular.

She was not one of those creatures that a man meets with sometimes--creatures who are for ever on the watch to pounce, and who are incapable of making allowances for any male frailty--smooth, smiling creatures, with thin lips, hair a little scanty at the front, and a quietly omniscient 'don't-tell-_me_' tone.

Mrs.Alice Challice had a mouth as wide as her ideas, and a full underlip.

She was a woman who, as it were, ran out to meet you when you started to cross the dangerous roadway which separates the two sexes.

She comprehended because she wanted to comprehend.