The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1877-10-11
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81 4 London Soc1ety, Ha4aan.

MI: 81 ,s'9mp'alley. y! writes 60. the New York
example, that q lady rich did 0eH known
in some sections Eof. EohIloa ibocicty-I
is Sf sfss s<9 re t!{ :Ss :
wanted to be lskea toole.sG dlnE<asun-
Gay evening dinners for which Strawber-
ry Hill is famous, in order to secure Or
strengthen her own Social position. You
can, can, scarcely ) imagipeu howl painful it
must have been to Lady Waldegrave to
decline, pleading that alf iier td1{Ihers had
been arranged at the beginning of the
season; and that it was tooi late to add to
the number of her guests Still less can
you conceive this lady,, thus rebufed,
drive down of A1Sunday afternoon to the
house at 'Twickenhath; under pf6tEnce of
calling; which, indeed, her place Oh lady
Waldegrave's visiting list might justify
her in doing. She. finds the grounds
thronged with the select, who have dined
there before, or are to dine that evening.
She seeks out her unwilling hostess;
she reminds her Of her former request;
she hears once more that the table is full;
nay, that more guests are hidden than
there are chairs for in the dinin room.
You think she retires discounted; at this?
That is because you don't know the wom-
an. She is like the British infantry,
which does not know when it is beaten.
She observes placidly- to Lady Walde-
grave that possibly some one of her
guests may not stay to dinner; if not
she suggests, she entreats, she implores,
that she may fill a vacant place: Lord
Carlingford's wife is too well-bred to be-
tray disgust; She is, I fear, not wholly
unused to this sort of thing. She tell
her would-be guest that if such should
be the case she would, of course, be haps
py to offer her the'vacant chair, Armed
with this cxtortcd assurance, off goes this
aspirant 1or social distinction, makes the
round of the party, puts to each one the
eager inquiry, Are you invited to; stay
to dinner?' and Are YOU going to stay?'
Presently these victims Of this new in
QUESTION begin to stray Up to their host
ess: and inquire, Pray, why is Mrs.
SO anxious should not stay to dinner2'
The story circulates, the laugh goes
with it, and, alas! no guest departs, no
chair is empty, and the woman whose
audacity was perhaps worthy Of better
fate, has to drive back and dine alone in
London. You think this is mere gossip,
and malicious at that. assure you it is
true, and if named the heroine of my
story, which will not do, you would
neither doubt its truth nor wonder what
interest such story can have for an Am
erican audience. may add that she isa
woman who, on the whole, may be said to
have succeeded and not failed in her am
bition, that she goes to many fine house
and has crowds of smart people at hers
- smart people meaning, in the dialect
of London society, fashionable people, and
not at all implying the possess ion Of ex-
ceptional menta! powers. 1 don't know
that this little anecdote is much more re-
markable than the shorter one which ac-
counts for the presence of the same lady
at great party tho other night, by her
third petition for card having wearied
out the patience of the giver, who had sent
two refusals to two former requests