He had had that swift glance of inspection sweep him up and down many times of late, in business offices. The look, however, appeared to satisfy his hostess; for after a bare pause she seconded her husband's invitation.
That pause had given Keith time to reflect, and he declined to go. But Norman, too, had seen the glance his wife had given, and he urged his acceptance so warmly and with such real sincerity that finally Keith yielded.
"This is not one of the balls," said Norman, laughingly. "It is only a ball, one of our subscription dances, so you need have no scruples about going along."
Keith looked a little mystified.
"Mrs. Creamer's balls are the balls, my dear fellow. There, in general, only the rich and the noble enter--rich in prospect and noble in title--"
"Norman, how can you talk so!" exclaimed Mrs. Wentworth, with some impatience. "You know better than that. Mrs. Creamer has always been particularly kind to us. Why, she asks me to receive with her every winter."
But Norman was in a bantering mood. "Am not I rich and you noble?" he laughed. "Do you suppose, my dear, that Mrs. Creamer would ask you to receive with her if we lived two or three squares off Fifth Avenue? It is as hard for a poor man to enter Mrs. Creamer's house as for a camel to pass through the needle's eye. Her motions are sidereal and her orbit is as regulated as that of a planet."
Mrs. Wentworth protested.
"Why, she has all sorts of people at her house--!"
"Except the unsuccessful. Even planets have a little eccentricity of orbit."