Mr Delarue
had in the dim past married his milliner, yet the Delarues
were now very much indeed to the fore. And, on the other
hand, the Leverets of the saw mills, rich and benevolent;
the Leverets were not in society simply, if you analysed
it, because they did not appear to expect to be in it.
Certainly it was well not to be too modest; assuredly,
as Mrs Murchison said, you put your own ticket on, though
that dear soul never marked herself in very plain figures,
not knowing, perhaps for one thing, quite how much she
was worth. On the other hand, "Scarce of company, welcome
trumpery," Mrs Murchison always emphatically declared to
be no part of her social philosophy. The upshot was that
the Murchisons were confined to a few old friends and
looked, as we know, half-humorously, half-ironically,
for more brilliant excursions, to Stella and "the boys."
It was only, however, the pleasure of Mr Lorne Murchison's
company that was requested at the Milburns' dance. Almost
alone among those who had slipped into wider and more
promiscuous circles with the widening of the stream, the
Milburns had made something like an effort to hold out.
The resisting power was not thought to reside in Mr
Milburn, who was personally aware of no special ground
for it, but in Mrs Milburn and her sister, Miss Filkin,
who seemed to have inherited the strongest ideas.
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