Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1912-12-31
The Evening Story
A SOCIAL.
EPISODE
BY REGINALD D. HAVEN

en- appeared at that club which IS the
exponent Of New York's Four Hun
dred and presented an introduction
card from Legrand Pulsifer, one whose
! position had been at the apex of the So
cial Manhattan pyramid for several
generations. The name on the card
WAS Ralph Maltravers, and he who
bore it was good looking young man
with the Anglo Saxon light hair, blue
eyes and rosy complexion. Having got
/ through with the formalities. he lit
4 pipe and sat down to a newspaper.
| Half dozen men, smelling the odor
Of pipe tobacco, lifted up their heads.
made wry faces and scowled. A few
minutes later one of the clubs lackeys
| informed the gentleman that only ci-
CARS or cigarettes were permitted In
the club. The stranger Immediately
put out his pipe and apologized on the
ground that he was unaware ne the rule,
! Had it not been for this infringement
the stranger might have been suffered
to remain unnoticed; but having thus
attracted attention. the members pres
4
a man who didn't know any more than
to smoke pipe in the club. Pulsifer
came in and seeing the Englishman
/ sitting alone, sat down with him, aud
4 they had a long chat. When Pnlsifer
| left his friend several men gathered
round him and asked who had intro
duced that cad to the club. Pulsifer
admitted that he had done so himself
and explained that he had met Nal
\ trayers In England and found him rath-
er 4 good fellow In his way. He had
1 therefore chosen to show him some at
tention. This being a faint backing,
the protesters thereafter took pains to
sit with their backs to the newcomer
! whenever they happened TO De In the
same room with him.
| A New York club is no place to make
acquaintances, and Mr., Maltravers
would not have been welcome even
had he not followed the universal Lon
don custom OF pipe smoking. But II
so happened that several of the gen
/ tlemen present when the Englishman
had appeared at the club afterward
met him at a social gathering given by
Mrs. Ten Eyick, sister Of Legrand
Pulsifer, and there found it easier to
show their disapproYal Of him.
Not that they We're by any means
impolite. Far from It. They were eX-
cessiyely polite. while to each other
they We're extremely unceremonious. In
other words, they Indicated as only a
swell can indicate that the stranger
was not and could not be one Of them.
Who is the fellow, Legrand, any
way" asked one of them.
Pulsifer shrugged his shoulders and
said. My dear boy. he did me a favor
when | was i'll London. What would
you have me do when he comes TO
America? However, | wish 10 say
frankly in justice to Mr.. Maltravers
that he has no desire to be socially re-
ceiYed. What | have done for him in
that way has not been at his request"
All agreed that because u man had
done another favor It was no reason
why the recipient should fnfiiet the
donor on his friends. There We're 9TH
er ways or paying obligations than so
cially, and some surprise was express
ed Tint Pulsifer. who was himself a
barrier to applicants for admission into
the charmed circle should have intro
dueea this man socially Ills putting
the Englishman up Mt his club was
quite enough. But Pulsifer said that
all he had done IN the matter was
TO admit the stranger TO his club and
be responsible for him at his sisters.
The women, though they showed an
icy front to Mr.. Maltrayers, admired
him. One Of them to whom he was
introduced said that he was one of
the most interesting men, considering
that he seldom opened his mouth, she
had ever met. But she was very proud
OF her conversational powers. and moth
Ing pleased her better than to find a
good listener Even the men who con- /
sldered Maltravers inadmlssable de-
clared that he never said anything
stupid. for he never said anything at
all
One evening when Pulslfer went into !
the -Four Hundred club half dozen I
men ran toward him from as many
different directions and opened fire on
him
What did you mean by introducing /
Lord Pennington fncog?"
II didn't"
Yes. you did. You introduced him
as Ralph Maltrayers.p
That's his namen
That's pretty thin. You had no \
business to introduce him as nobody I
when You knew very well that any of |
us would have been glad to show him
the attention his position calls for,
Its putting New York society In bad
light"
What | did was at his own especial
request. He came here to look over
America. II it had been known that
he was marquis and heir 10 duke
dom aud one Of tie biggest landed
estates in ENGLAND he would have saat1