But let us sit and enliven a proper dinner with talk upon topics of legitimate interest and genuine propriety.
Here will be no discussion of the vulgar matter of markets, staples, and prices, such as we perforce endured through the overwined and too-abundant repast of Higbee. Instead of learning what beef on the hoof brings per hundred-weight, f.o.b. at Cheyenne, we shall here glean at once the invaluable fact that while good society in London used to be limited to those who had been presented at court, the presentations have now become so numerous that the limitation has lost its significance. Mrs. Gwilt-Athelstan thus discloses, as if it were a trifle, something we should never learn at the table of Higbee though we ate his heavy dinners to the day of ultimate chaos. And while we learned at that distressingly new table that one should keep one"s heifers and sell off one"s steer calves, we never should have been informed there that Dinard had just enjoyed the gayest season of its history under the patronage of this enterprising American; nor that Lady de Muzzy had opened a tea-room in Grafton Street, and Cynthia, Marchioness of Angleberry, a beauty-improvement parlour on the Strand "because she needs the money."
"Lots of "em takin" to trade nowadays; it"s a smart sayin" there now that all the peers are marryin" actresses and all the peeresses goin"
into business." Mrs. Gwilt-Athelstan nodded little shocks of brilliance from her tiara and hungrily speared another oyster.
"Only trouble is, it"s such rotten hard work collectin" bills from their intimate friends; they simply _won"t_ pay."
Nor at the barbaric Higbee"s should we have been vouchsafed, to treasure for our own, the knowledge that Mrs. Gwilt-Athelstan had merely run over for the cup-fortnight, meaning to return directly to her daughter, Katharine, d.u.c.h.ess of Blanchmere, in time for the Melton Mowbray hunting-season; nor that she had been rather taken by the new way of country life among us, and so tempted to protract her gracious sojourn.
"Really," she admits, "we"re comin" to do the right thing over here; a few years were all we needed. Hardly a town-house to be opened before Thanksgivin", I understand; and down at the Hills some of the houses will stay open all winter. It"s coachin", ridin", and golf and auto-racin" and polo and squash; really the young folks don"t go in at all except to dance and eat; and it"s quite right, you know. It"s quite decently English, now. Why, at Morris Park the other day, the crowd on the lawn looked quite like Ascot, actually."
Nor could we have learned in the hostile camp the current gossip of Tuxedo, Meadowbrook, Lenox, Morristown, and Ardsley; of the mishap to Mrs. "Jimmie" Whettin, twice unseated at a recent meet; of the woman"s championship tournament at Chatsworth; or the good points of the new runner-up at Baltusrol, daily to be seen on the links. Where we might incur knowledge of Beaumont "gusher" or Pittsburg mill we should never have discovered that teas and receptions are really falling into disrepute; that a series of dinner-dances will be organised by the mothers of debutantes to bring them forward; and that big subscription b.a.l.l.s are in disfavour, since they benefit no one but the caterers who serve poor suppers and bad champagne.
Mrs. takes only Scotch whiskey and soda.
"But I"m glad," she confides to Horace Milbrey on her left, "that you haven"t got to followin" this fad of havin" one wine at dinner; I know it"s English, but it"s downright shoddy."
Her host"s eyes swam with grat.i.tude for this appreciation.
"I stick to my peg," she continued; "but I like to see a Chablis with the oysters and good dry sherry with the soup, and a Moselle with the fish, and then you"re ready to be livened with a bit of champagne for the roast, and steadied a bit by Burgundy with the game. Phim sticks to it, too; tells me my peg is downright encouragement to the bacteria.
But I tell him I"ve no quarrel with _my_ bacteria. "Live and let live"
is my motto, I tell him,--and if the microbes and I both like Scotch and soda, why, what harm. I"m forty-two and not so much of a fool that I ain"t a little bit of a physician. I know my stomach, I tell him."
"What about these Western people?" she asked Oldaker at her other side, after a little.
"Decent, unpretentious folks, somewhat new, but with loads of money."
"I"ve heard how the breed"s stormin" New York in droves; but they tell me some of us need the money."
"I dined with one last night, a sugar-cured ham magnate from Chicago."
"_Dear_ me! how shockin"!"
"But they"re good, whole-souled people."
"And well-_heeled_--and that"s what we need, it seems. Some of us been so busy bein" well-familied that we"ve forgot to make money."
"It"s a good thing, too. Nature has her own building laws about fortunes. When they get too sky-sc.r.a.py she topples them over. These people with their thrifty habits would have _all_ the money in time if their sons and daughters didn"t marry aristocrats with expensive tastes who know how to be spenders. Nature keeps things fairly even, one way or another."
"You"re thinkin" about Kitty and the duke."
"No, not then I wasn"t, though that"s one of the cla.s.s I mean. I was thinking especially about these Westerners."
"Well, my grandfather made the best barrels in New York, and I"m mother-in-law of a chap whose ancestors for three hundred and fifty years haven"t done a stroke of work; but he"s the Duke of Blanchmere, and I hope our friends here will come as near gettin" the worth of their money as we did. And if that chap"--she glanced at Percival--"marries a certain young woman, he"ll never have a dull moment. I"d vouch for that. I"m quite sure she"s the devil in her."
"And if the yellow-haired girl marries the fellow next her--"
"He might do worse."
"Yes, but might _she_? He"s already doing worse, and he"ll keep on doing it, even if he does marry her."
"Nonsense--about that, you know; all rot! What can you expect of these chaps? So does the duke do worse, but you"ll never hear Kitty complain so long as he lets her alone and she can wear the strawberry leaves. I fancy I"ll have those young ones down to the Hills for Hallowe"en and the week-end. Might as well help "em along."
At the other end of the table, the fine old ivory of her cheeks gently suffused with pink until they looked like slightly crumpled leaves of a la France rose, Mrs. Oldaker was flirting brazenly with Shepler, and prattling impartially to him and to one of the twin nephews of old days in social New York; of a time when the world of fashion occupied a little s.p.a.ce at the Battery and along Broadway; of its migration to the far north of Great Jones Street, St. Mark"s Place, and Second Avenue.
In Waverly Place had been the flowering of her belle-hood, and the day when her set moved on to Murray Hill was to her still recent and revolutionary.
Between the solemn Angstead twins, Mrs. Bines had sat in silence until by some happy chance it transpired that "horse" was the word to unlock their lips. As Mrs. Bines knew all about horses the twins at once became voluble, showing her marked attention. The twins were notably devoid of prejudice if your sympathies happened to run with theirs.
Miss Bines and young Milbrey were already on excellent terms. Percival and Miss Milbrey, on the other hand, were doing badly. Some disturbing element seemed to have put them aloof. Miss Milbrey wondered somewhat; but her mind was easy, for her resolution had been taken.
Mrs. Gwilt-Athelstan extended her invitation to the young people, who accepted joyfully.
"Come down and camp with us, and help Phim keep the batteries of his autos run out. You know they deteriorate when they"re left half-charged, and it"s one of the cares of his life to see to the whole six of "em when they come in. He gets in one and the men get in the others, and he leads a solemn parade around the stables until they"ve been run out. Tell me the leisure cla.s.s isn"t a hard-workin" cla.s.s, now."
Over coffee and chartreuse in the drawing-room there was more general talk of money and marriage, and of one for the other.
"And so he married money," concluded Mrs. Gwilt-Athelstan of one they had discussed.
"Happy marriage!" Shepler called out.
"No; money talks! and this time, on my word, now, it made you want to put on those thick sealskin ear-m.u.f.fs. Poor chap, and he"d been talkin"
to me about the monotony of married life. "Monotony, my boy," I said to him, "you don"t _know_ lovely woman!" and now he wishes jolly well that he"d not done it, you know."
Here, too, was earned by Mrs. Bines a reputation for wit that she was never able quite to destroy. There had been talk of a banquet to a visiting celebrity the night before, for which the _menu_ was one of unusual costliness. Mr. Milbrey had dwelt with feeling upon certain of its eminent excellences, such as loin of young bear, a la Granville, and the boned quail, stuffed with goose-livers.
"Really," he concluded, "from an artistic standpoint, although large dinners are apt to be slurred and slighted, it was a creation of undoubted worth."
"And the orchestra," spoke up Mrs. Bines, who had read of the banquet, "played "Hail to the _Chef!_""
The laughter at this sally was all it should have been, even the host joining in it. Only two of those present knew that the good woman had been warned not to call "chef" "chief," as Silas Higbee did. The fact that neither should "chief" be called "chef" was impressed upon her later, in a way to make her resolve ever again to eschew both of the troublesome words.
When the guests had gone Miss Milbrey received the praise of both parents for her blameless att.i.tude toward young Bines.
"It will be fixed when we come back from Wheatly," said that knowing young woman, "and now don"t worry any more about it."
"And, Fred," said the mother, "do keep straight down there. She"s a commonplace girl, with lots of mannerisms to unlearn, but she"s pretty and sweet and teachable."
"And she"ll learn a lot from Fred that she doesn"t know now," finished that young man"s sister from the foot of the stairway.
Back at their hotel Psyche Bines was saying:
"Isn"t it queer about Mrs. Gwilt-Athelstan? We"ve read so much about her in the papers. I thought she must be some one awful to meet--I was that scared--and instead, she"s like any one, and real chummy besides; and, actually, ma, don"t you think her dress was dowdy--all except the diamonds? I suppose that comes from living in England so much. And hasn"t Mrs. Milbrey twice as grand a manner, and the son--he"s a precious--he knows everything and everybody; I shall like him."
Her brother, who had flung himself into a cushioned corner, spoke with the air of one who had reluctantly consented to be interviewed and who was anxious to be quoted correctly:
"Mrs. Gwilt-Athelstan is all right. She reminds me of what Uncle Peter writes about that new herd of short-horns: "This breed has a mild disposition, is a good feeder, and produces a fine quality of flesh."
But I"ll tell you one thing, sis," he concluded with sudden emphasis, "with all this talk about marrying for money I"m beginning to feel as if you and I were a couple of white rabbits out in the open with all the game laws off!"