“Into what shall I drop?”
“Just being asked to the big things everybody goes to and nobody counts. For even with the way Charley has arranged about the phosphates, it will not be enough to keep you in our swim—just by itself. He’ll weigh more than his money, because he’ll stay different—too different.”
“He was not so different last summer.”
“Because he was not there long enough, my dear. He learned bridge quickly, and of course he had seen champagne before, and nobody had time to notice him. But he’ll be married now and they will notice him, and they won’t want him. To think of your dropping out!” Kitty became very earnest. “To think of not seeing you among us! You’ll be in none of the small things; you’ll never be asked to stay at the smart houses—why, not even your name will be in the paper! Not a foreigner you entertain, not a dinner you give, not a thing you wear, will ever be described next morning. And Charley’s so set on you, and you’re so just exactly made for each other, and it would all be so splendid, and cosey, and jolly! And to throw all this away for that crude boy!” Kitty’s disdain was high at the thought of John.
Hortense took a little time over it “Once,” she then stated, “he told me he could drown in my hair as joyfully as the Duke of Clarence did in his butt of Malmsey wine!”
Kitty gave a little scream. “Did you let him?”
“One has to guard one’s value at times.”
Kitty’s disdain for John increased. “How crude!”
Hortense did not make any answer.
“How crude!” Kitty, after some silence, repeated. She seemed to have found the right word.