CHAPTER XV.
ON Christmas-eve, after dinner, as General and Mrs. Gaston, Miss Trevennon and Mr. Louis Gaston were seated around the drawing-room fire, a card of invitation was brought in by Thomas, and delivered to General Gaston. As he took it and scanned it through his glasses, a perceptible gleam of satisfaction came into his eyes, and he handed it to Mrs. Gaston, saying:
“A card for General Morton’s supper.”
“Indeed!” returned his wife, with a reflection of his gratified expression. “Really, this is very kind.”
As she took the card and looked at it, Margaret surveyed her wonderingly. Turning her eyes away from her cousin’s face, an instant later, she saw that Louis Gaston was regarding her with a sort of deprecating amusement. He was seated near to her, and so he alone distinguished her words, when she murmured, in an undertone:
“‘How strange are the customs of France’!”
She smiled as she said it, and Cousin Eugenia, who saw the smile, but missed the words she had uttered, said explainingly:
“This supper of General Morton’s is an annual affair. He has given one on New Year’s night ever since he has been in Washington. They are limited to twenty-five gentlemen, and of course these are carefully selected. It is always the most recherché stag-party of the season, and one is sure of meeting there the most distinguished and agreeable people the city will afford. He has always been so kind in asking Edward, though of course the invitations are greatly in demand, and residents cannot always expect to receive them.”
Nothing further was said about the matter just then, but it was evident that this attention from General Morton had put Mrs. Gaston in unusually high spirits, and her husband, on his part, was scarcely less elated.