"Hush, Blanche! I never heard you talk so indiscreetly before!"
"Well, I don't care! Papa made me come here to stay, because he said they had visited us, and came out to Bel's wedding, and all; but I do so wish I was at the St. Nicholas with you and the Clarks, uncle, dear! Cousin Charles ain't like himself since he married his fashionable New York wife; even when he comes to pa's he isn't, though there he throws off his cold, ceremonious manner somewhat. But I really feel as if I was in a straight-jacket here!"
"Why, Blanche, what's the trouble? I am sure everything is very elegant and fashionable here!"
"Yes, too elegant and fashionable for poor little me! I am not used to that, and don't care for it. I'd rather have a little more friendliness and sociability than all the splendor. I am constantly reminded of my utter insignificance; and you know, uncle, poor Blanche is spoiled, as you often say, and not used to being reduced to a mere nonentity!"
With this the silly child actually began to cry, and when I tried to soothe her, only sobbed out, in broken words: "I wouldn't be such a goose as to mind it, if Henry Zousky had not been treated so so, so—so—fash-ion-a-bly!"
Looking over some letters from a sprightly correspondent of mine, the other day, I laid aside one from which I make the following extract, as apposite to my subject:
"You asked me to give you some account of the social position, etc., and an idea of the husband of your former favorite, M—— S——. 'What is Dr. J—— like?' you inquire:—Like nothing in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, I answer; and, therefore, he might be worshipped without a violation of the injunction of the Decalogue! How such a vivacious creature as M—— S—— came to tie herself for life to such a mule, passes my powers of solution. Dr. J—— is very accomplished in his profession, for a young man, I hear, and much respected for his professional capacity—but socially he is—nothing!—the merest cipher conceivable! A man may be very quiet at home, now-a-days, and yet pass muster; but there are times when he must act, as it seems to me; but M——'s husband seems to be a man of one idea, and that never, seemingly, suggests the duties of host. But you shall judge for yourself.—While I was in A——, we were all invited there one evening, to meet a bride, an old friend of M——'s, stopping in town on her marriage tour. M—— said it was too early in the season for a large party, and that we were expected quite en famille; but it was, in reality, quite an occasion, nevertheless, as the bride and her party were fashionable Bostonians. I happened to be near the hostess, when the guests of the evening entered. She received them with her usual Frenchy ease and playfulness of manner, and it seemed that the gentleman was an old friend of hers, but did not know her husband. He expressed the hope that Dr. J——'s professional duties would not deprive them of his society the whole evening, as he much desired the pleasure of his acquaintance. I saw, by the heightening of her color, that M——, woman of the world though she be, felt the unintended sarcasm of this polite language; for Dr. J. was calmly ensconced in the deep recess of a large fauteuil in the corner of the fire-place, apparently enjoying the glowing coal-fire that always adds its cheerful influence to the elegant belongings of M——'s splendid drawing-room. Throughout the entire evening our effigy of a host kept his post, where we found him on entering. People went to him, chatted a while, and moved away; we danced, refreshments were served, wine was quaffed,
'All went merry as a marriage bell;'
M—— glided about from group to group, with an appropriate word, or courteous attention for each one, and, in addition to the flowers that adorned the rooms, presented the bride of her old friend with an exquisite bouquet, saying, in her pretty way, that she would have been delighted to receive her in a bower of roses, when she learned from Mr. —— how much she liked flowers, but that Flora was in a pet with her since she had given up her old conservatory at her father's. As the evening waned, I observed her weariness, despite the hospitable smile; and well she might be! Several times she slipped away to her babe; once, when I stood near her, she started slightly: