"It is good of you to say so—you do things so exquisitely yourself that I'm quite afraid of you," returned Mrs. Christy with disarming frankness.
She glanced at Miss Thayer, Mrs. Danielson and Mrs. Cecil Jerome, who were also at the table.
"You clever people," she went on, "must be my guides, for New York is rather new to me—we have lived West so much. You are all such authorities on social matters that I shall have to depend on you for many things. You'll help me, won't you?"
What women could resist such delicate flattery?
The four smiled graciously.
"Tell me, Mrs. Danielson," Mrs. Christy continued, "are you going to Newport this summer—or haven't you decided?"
"Oh, we've decided! We've rented our house and we intend to spend the summer in Switzerland and the Tyrol," answered Mrs. Danielson. "What are you going to do, Mrs. Christy?"
"Jack and I expect to take an automobile trip through England and Scotland—if he can get away," returned Mrs. Christy, "and by the way, what do you all do with your houses through the summer months? That is bothering me now! Do you leave your servants in them all summer?"
"Oh, no," exclaimed Mrs. Danielson hastily, "we have had such frightful experiences doing that! One summer we had fine servants and we wanted to hold on to them so we kept them in the house all the time we were gone and we hadn't been back any time at all before they left in a body! So pleasant to feel you'd only been giving a house-party for them!" she concluded sarcastically.
"Why my dear, our servants had a dance in our house!" put in Mrs. Norman.