“Charged with foolishness, you mean!”
“Oh, but Mumsy, look, we are right behind my cousins from Buck Hill. Let’s don’t go in too close to them. I’m entirely too happy to take a snubbing from Mildred Bucknor. Doesn’t Cousin Ann Peyton look beautiful?”
“You mean the old lady in hoop skirts? She’s terribly behind the times, ain’t she? But, Judy, who was the young man who was so bent on helping you out of the car? You didn’t pretend to introduce him.”
“Mr. Harbison. I have not met him myself yet. I believe he is Mildred Bucknor’s special property.”
The ten old men of the receiving line were drawn up in battle array, in all the glory of their best clothes. Pete Barnes was gorgeous in checked trousers and Prince Albert coat, with his bushy iron-gray hair well oiled and combed in what used to be known as a roach, a style popular in his early manhood. Some of the veterans were in uniform—the blue or the gray. All wore white carnations in their 151 button-holes. The guests shook hands with the hosts and then moved on. Those who had come merely to look on sought the chairs ranged against the wall; others who wanted to dance were eagerly arranging for partners if they were men, while the fair sex assumed a supreme indifference. Colonel Crutcher busied himself giving out dancing cards and seeing that the young people were introduced.
The first sensation of the evening was the entrance of Miss Ann Peyton. With slow grace and dignity she sailed into the ballroom and approached the receiving line alone. Mr. and Mrs. Bucknor had stopped a moment to speak to some acquaintances and Mildred had intentionally held back the crowd of young people comprising the house party from Buck Hill, whispering that they really need not mix with the others.
“Of course we must speak to those ridiculous old men, but after that we can just stay together. It will be lots more fun.”
“Here comes Miss Ann Peyton!” the whisper went around the hall.
“Well, if it isn’t Cousin Ann!” Big Josh Bucknor boomed to his daughters.
“For goodness sake don’t ask her to go home with us,” begged those ladies. 152