The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1890-09-20
"a SOCIA i SHOCK.
Why Mrs. Mostyn Fled from 9
London Dress-Maker.

Why Mrs Mostyn Fled from Is
| London Dress-Maker.
Dinner was announced Immediately
after Mrs. Washington Mostyn entered
the drawing-room, and, indeed, it ap-
peared that the party were only waiting
bad quarter Of an hour.
.'My DEAR" whispered Lady Kendall,
81 am going to send you down with
most charming young man, Algie Up
ham, a cousin of the Duchess of Liver
pool; I think he's quite one of the
| incest men in London, and so artistic,
don't you know
Mrs. Mcstyn raised her tortoise-shell
lorgnette in the direction Of the gentle.
man indicated, and was pleased to make
an inspection and give an opiLion in
not more than two seconds:
Charmed, l am sure. What good"
looking young man. All, see-race
and intelligence"
eyes, both. But allow mo to intro"
duce you,'' said Lady Kendall In an
| other minute Or so the women were
trailing their silken and velvet skirts
downstairs to the dining-room. Mrs.
Washington Mosryn belonged to the
! ''four hundred" of New York, if not by
birth, at any rate by wealth. Her hus-
! band, who was content to pursue opera
lions in Wall street most of the year
! round, was wont to leave the cultiva-
! ton of society to his handsome wife.
Their brown stone mansion on Fifth
avenue was as gorgeous as many of
their richer neighbors, and no one I'M
derstood better the art of s'booming" an
entertainment and getting herself
| talked about than Mrs. Washington
Mostyn, of New York. And then, her
''cottage" at Newport, was it not cele-
DRAFTED in every paper throughout the
| length and breadth Of the continent? It
| was there that she entertained lavishly
migratory members OF the English aris
tocracy in quest Of amusement, wives or
sport, thereby forming connections
| which she meant to push vigorously
now that she had actually arrived in
London. Had not Lord Birkenhead,
the Duchess of Liverpool's eldest son,
osen one of these feted and fattered
youngsters? And was not the dear
Duchess proportionately grateful, and
inclined to open the ducal arms in q
manner that she was not won't to do
with certain dear friends and rivals
from New Y ork and Washington?
! But Mrs. Washington Mos tyn had
still one unsatisfied ambition, and that
WAS to become as much a Londoner as
| her fair friends and neighbors had con-
| trived to make themselves. To London,
of course, like every other self-respect'
! ing American, she had been, but it was
with the London of hotels, parks and
theaters only that she was familiar.
| Into it's society she had never pene-
trated. And SO it came to pass that
| Mrs. Mostyn, leaving her husband to
| perform his avocation OF ''bear" in
Wall street, caused several enormous
trunks to be packed, and, arrning her.
self with introductions to some of the
best people in London, betook herself,
her maid and her courier by the next
steamer to Liverpool landing OF these
shores by the beginning Of May. Lady
Kendall. who loved above all things a
| new face, had been one Of the first host
GSSe$S 20 make utI OIL u6T.
! 1t was rather an amusing table,
| though it somewhat shocked Mrs. Mos
tyn's fastidious sense Of the social pro-
prieties. Looking round, she was struck
with the familiar look Of the faces, and
as matter of fact she could have seen
most Of Che persons present by taking a
walk down Bond street and glancing in
| = 1lo% onpn oo oof
| along.
| Lady Kendal's parties were LIBERATED
in their way, for. she was what an
irreverent modern journalist had not
| inaptly called tinker" She would
send down famous poet with an Ana
| bassadress, g. Cabinet Minister with Ii
pretty actress, Or consign a great lady
| to a fashionable singer. 1t was social
salad, and people were pleased, once in
| way, to meet celebrities of whom they
had heard great deal. Now Mrs.
| Mostyn, like others of the *four hun
dred," knew little, and approved less,
of ''mixing." She would as soon have
asked Ii Sing, her Chinese laundry
man, tc dinner as some of the actors,
| journalists and painters whom Lady
| Kendall liked to see occasionally at her
table. Tonight for instance, across
the banks of mauve and white orchids,
! Mrs Mostyn could catch the profile of
her Grace of Liverpool. smiling on a
handsome Polish tenor who had turned
the womens heads in half the opera
houses in Europe; while opposite her
| sat the celebrated biologist, Prof. Lyn~
dali, who was apparently delighted
with his neighbour, little Virginian
beauty who had written some rather
| erotic novels.
'sWhy couldn't Lady Kendall have told
! me what his line is?'' thought Mrs.
Mostyn, CHANGING at her partner as she
settled herself in her place. Il hate
| talking to man know nothing about!
| Sport-art-the Gaiety? What shall it
be? I know-po]o! AL Englishmen
play polo, or if they don't they like you
| to think they do"
| But it was not, after all, of polo that
Mr.. Algernon Upham conversed. He
| had a hundred amusing stories to tell
stories of the theatrical world in Lon
don, of great people in Vienna, of the
| 2teliers in Paris.