"Wouldn't old Mrs. Plumstone?" she demanded, a touch of disappointment being evident in her tone.
"Hardly."
"Well, that explains it," she said with a sigh.
"Explains what?" I asked.
"Not a soul around Westbury has been to see me," she answered. "Do tell me, how do people get to know you in New York?"
"They don't," said I. "The question is, how do you get to know them?"
"Well, how?"
"It's very simple," I explained. "When you are buying your property, see as many real-estate firms uptown as you can, for they have some very nice young men connected with them. All the cotillon leaders are in real estate or architecture, as dancing is a branch of their business. Then there are the brokers. Some of the smartest men in town are two-dollar brokers, and surely a great house like Radigan & Co. can make it worth their while to be polite. Why, there are dozens of ways you can collect acquaintances in New York. It is easy if you know how."
"But I did not," said Mrs. Radigan rather sadly. "It has worried me dreadfully, too. Sometimes, since we have been at Westbury, it has seemed as though we must be dead. Of course, one or two people there have been very nice, but they were not the kind we care to know. Evidently, you have made a study of society."