Kate shook her head reprovingly, and smiled. After all, one of her children was still a child. No need to trouble about the future yet!
Channing was the first of the guests to collect his wits, and he assisted the newcomer to alight from the newel-post with gallantry.
"What an effective entrance, Miss—ah, Jacqueline," he commented. "An idea for musical comedy, all the chorus sliding down on to the stage in a procession. I must suggest it to my friend Cohan."
The girl suddenly felt very small, but she concealed her embarrassment beneath an excessive nonchalance. "Why, in Boston don't people use their banisters? We find them so convenient, so time-saving."
"Unfortunately, in Boston," he replied blandly, "very few women seem to have such decorative legs to exhibit."
There was a shocked pause. Thorpe and Mrs. Kildare had moved out of hearing. The three other young men rushed into the breach with small talk, casting furious looks at Channing, much to his amusement.
He made a mental note: "In rural Kentucky the leg may be seen but not heard."
Later Jacqueline whispered to her sister, "What was wrong with that compliment? Why did everybody look so queer?"
Their education had not included a course in the lesser feminine proprieties. But Jemima was not one to be caught napping. Conventions came to her by instinct.
"He should have said 'limbs,'" she answered promptly. "And he should not have seen them at all!"