“If only we could persuade Ma to see that this going to Europe does not mean just buying Paris dresses and parading them to catch a lord, I’ll be happy,” concluded Dodo.
“Poor child! How she does find fault with her little mother!” sighed Mrs. Alexander, wiping her eyes in self-pity.
Dodo turned her entire attention to her new acquaintance, at this. “Are you alone, or is your family with you?”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you, Dodo dear; Miss Maynard is going to study decorating in Europe; and her friend Polly, and their teacher, is with her. She just told me that the teacher’s wife and daughter are visiting a real English peer! Think of it—a teacher’s family stopping with a live lady of quality!” exclaimed Mrs. Alexander, eagerly.
“I hope they are nice English folks,” commented Dodo.
“Naturally they would be, if they belong to the peerage, Dodo,” returned her mother, innocent of a “Burke” and the difference between a baronet and a peer. “But I was thinking, that it would be quite easy for us to get acquainted with dukes and lords, if a mere teacher got his family invited to one’s house.”
Dodo’s lip curled sarcastically, and Eleanor learned that the daughter had nothing in common with these empty fads of her mother. Then Dodo said: “I hope the teacher’s family know enough to make the lord’s family appreciate a good old American!”
Eleanor laughed, and said: “If Nancy Fabian and her mother are anything like Mr. Fabian, you can rest assured that they’ll do full justice to the United States, and the Stars and Stripes.”
To change the subject from this dangerous ground that created more resistance for her to fight than she had to meet, recently, from Dodo, Mrs. Alexander hastily said: “Do you know, Dodo, Miss Maynard told me that Polly and she took up the study of Interior Decorating, in New York, in order to better the conditions of painters and upholsterers who work at that trade. Not to make money.”
Eleanor frowned. “I think you misunderstood me, Mrs. Alexander. I said we were studying the profession and that it took a great deal of application and perseverance to reach the high plane which was necessary for a good decorator to stand on. So few who call themselves interior decorators really know much about the art. And in order to increase our education and understanding of the profession, Polly and I are about to visit the great museums of Europe.”