At all events, when she
opened her doors as a bride, receiving for three afternoons
in her wedding dress. everybody had "called." It was very
distinctly understood, of course, that this was a civility
that need not lead to anything whatever, a kind of bowing
recognition, to be formally returned and quite possibly
to end there. With Abby, in a good many cases, it hadn't
ended there; she was doing very well, and as she often
said with private satisfaction, if she went out anywhere
she was just as likely as not to meet her brothers. Elgin
society, shaping itself, I suppose, to ultimate increase
and prosperity, had this peculiarity, that the females
of a family, in general acceptance, were apt to lag far
behind the males. Alec and Oliver enjoyed a good deal of
popularity, and it was Stella's boast that if Lorne didn't
go out much it needn't be supposed he wasn't asked. It
was an accepted state of things in Elgin that young men
might be invited without their sisters, implying an
imperturbability greater than London's, since London may
not be aware of the existence of sisters, while Elgin
knew all sorts of more interesting things about them.
The young men were more desirable than the young women;
they forged ahead, carrying the family fortunes, and the
"nicest" of them were the young men in the banks.
Pages:
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71