Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-02-11
How Paid My Way Into English SOcietyo&

.
placing the feet, pointed along the floor
| In front Of her like passive fish tall!
Another was subordinAted to her veil,
| which fell over her left shoulder down
been diverted with a view to leaving no
thread of it unseen. These were the
Americans who had gone on before to
meet their king.
A gold clock on the mantel pointed to
five minutes Of o'clock. Leaning
against it and every upright object
whereabouts were engraved ccrds of
invitation. They bore the names. filled
| In with ink, of the Earl and Lady Bal
! moral with one other. The Archbishop
of Canterbury requested the honor of
the presence Of the Earl and Lady Bal
| moral, with Miss Clarke, at musical.
The Duke and Duchess OF Westmore-
| land invited Earl and Lady Balmoral
with Mrs. Egbert to a dinner. Thirty
Of such cards were on display. On the
gold couch by the rnantel lay an open
book of the peerage. seated myself
and looked up the earls family. He
an ancestor won through valiancy in
defending his country against the
French.
X
Just then a door opened and a tall,
dignifled man came in. He walked
with a stiff stride, attributed to the
nobility by their stage impersonators.
He spoke in q suffering enunciation,
punctuated with little mirthless Hos"
His upper lip drew like curtain over
his mouth to conceal the truth that
tooth was missing here and there.
thought he was going to look me over
and discover, as he could with the ex-
ercise of the slightest fnvestigattve
faculty, that 1 was a fraud. Instead he
talked stupidity for few minutes
|
went to fetch his wife. He had a great
deal of the patrician in him. but no
sense of humor or, as acquaintanceship
revealed. of anything else. 1 found
| myself remembering the .ay of his
coat over the slope of his VIII built
shoulders, and the trim neatness of
| his small four-in-h hand tie under his
| close fitting collar. They were cheap
clothes, but he made them look expen-
sive.
The next moment the door opened
| and the peeress of the realm came in.
| She appeared to be about twenty-five.
There was no clearcutness of physical
, characteristics to denote any reminis-
cence of an aristocratic strain in her.
She asked your attention not to patri-
clan shoulders but to deep gray eyes
| under yelled lids. If the clothes she
wore were expensive she made them
| look cheap.
AS she stood against the white door
| for a moment l was reminded of a
scene out in Chicago many years ago.
| A costuming establishment sent girl
to deliver a dress to me. She stood
against my white door in just the
the undistinguished, average height,
and they both had richly colored
prettiness from which all look of race
was absent. OF course the Chica goan
was much more chic than the countess,
since that is a term that could never
by any courtesy be used in connection
with an Englishwoman- She was dress
ed to go to the wedding, in white
cotton frock under a black satin wrap
trimmed in gold fringe. and she had
on straw hat piled with red roses.
The peeress of the realm 1 saw owed
her present high rank to fetching
color scheme. That combination of a
fair skin with dark tresses and heavy
brows has worked many miracles.
Did you want to be introduced?" she
asked. advancing. Her accent was rich
ly British.
Perhaps" I answered. How much
does it coStT'
ITO meet the king and for the season
leading up to it, thousand pounds"
She sat down on the gold couch beside
me. Her hat was sunburned and jab-
bed full of hatpin holes. An edge of
gold fringe was ripped from her sleeve.
Still, she gave the effect of an abiding
neatness and 1 could feel her mana
gerial faculty. AS the head of corset
department or a tearoom she would be
a success
I observed that l thought the sum
she mentioned was quite high. She an
swered. Yes. but take an American
woman whom ] introduced last year
fine time, and it's worth that to her"
She got up and began bringing me
things bearing on the subject. as
salesman shows his wares The Arch
bishop of Canterbury's card was her
choicest treasure. Another was pho
tograph in a gold frame of an elderly
man driving a coach and four. She
picked it from its place on the piano