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Mary. ā€œAnd I got along so fastā ā€”ā€ She broke off to laugh; continuing then, ā€œBut thatā€™s the way I went at it, of course. We are in a hurry, arenā€™t we?ā€

ā€œI donā€™t know what you mean,ā€ Mrs. Vertrees insisted, shaking her head plaintively.

ā€œYes,ā€ said Mary, ā€œIā€™m going out in his car with him tomorrow afternoon, and to the theater the next nightā ā€”but I stopped it there. You see, after you give the first push, you must leave it to them while you pretend to run away!ā€

ā€œMy dear, I donā€™t know what toā ā€”ā€

ā€œWhat to make of anything!ā€ Mary finished for her. ā€œSo thatā€™s all right! Now Iā€™ll tell you all about it. It was gorgeous and deafening and teetotal. We could have lived a year on it. Iā€™m not good at figures, but I calculated that if we lived six months on poor old Charlie and Ned and the station-wagon and the Victoria, we could manage at least twice as long on the cost of the housewarming. I think the orchids alone would have lasted us a couple of months. There they were, before me, but I couldnā€™t steal ā€™em and sell ā€™em, and soā ā€”well, so I did what I could!ā€

She leaned back and laughed reassuringly to her troubled mother. ā€œIt seemed to be a successā ā€”what I could,ā€ she said, clasping her hands behind her neck and stirring the rocker to motion as a rhythmic accompaniment to her narrative. ā€œThe girl Edith and her sister-in-law, Mrs. Roscoe Sheridan, were too anxious about the effect of things on me. The fatherā€™s worth a bushel of both of them, if they knew it. Heā€™s what he is. I like him.ā€ She paused reflectively, continuing, ā€œEdithā€™s ā€˜interestedā€™ in that Lamhorn boy; heā€™s good-looking and not stupid, but I think heā€™sā ā€”ā€ She interrupted herself with a cheery outcry: ā€œOh! I mustnā€™t be calling him names! If heā€™s trying to make Edith like him, I ought to respect him as a colleague.ā€

ā€œI donā€™t understand a thing youā€™re talking about,ā€ Mrs. Vertrees complained.

ā€œAll the better! Well, heā€™s a bad lot, that Lamhorn boy; everybodyā€™s always known that, but the Sheridans donā€™t know the everybodies that know. He sat between Edith and Mrs. Roscoe Sheridan. Sheā€™s like those people you wondered about at the theater, the last time we wentā ā€”dressed in ball-gowns; bound to show their clothes and jewels somewhere! She flatters the father, and so did I, for that matterā ā€”but not that way. I treated him outrageously!ā€

ā€œMary!ā€

ā€œThatā€™s what flattered him. After dinner he made the whole regiment of us follow him all over the house, while he lectured like a guide on the Palatine. He gave dimensions and costs, and the whole bā€™ilinā€™ of ā€™em listened as if they thought he intended to make them a present of the house. What he was proudest of was the plumbing and that Bay of Naples panorama in the hall. He made us look at all the plumbingā ā€”bathrooms and everywhere elseā ā€”and then he made us look at the Bay of Naples. He said it was a hundred and eleven feet long, but I think itā€™s more. And he led us all into the ready-made library to see a poem Edith had taken a prize with at school. Theyā€™d had it printed in gold letters and framed in mother-of-pearl. But the poem itself was rather simple and wistful and niceā ā€”he read it to us, though Edith tried to stop him. She was modest about it, and said sheā€™d never written anything else. And then, after a while, Mrs. Roscoe Sheridan asked me to come across the street to her house with themā ā€”her husband and Edith and Mr. Lamhorn and Jim Sheridanā ā€”ā€

Mrs. Vertrees was shocked. ā€œā€Šā€˜Jimā€™!ā€ she exclaimed. ā€œMary, pleaseā ā€”ā€

ā€œOf course,ā€ said Mary. ā€œIā€™ll make it as easy for you as I can, mamma. Mr. James Sheridan, Junior. We went over there, and Mrs. Roscoe explained that ā€˜the men were all dying for a drink,ā€™ though I noticed that Mr. Lamhorn was the only one near deathā€™s door on that account. Edith and Mrs. Roscoe said they knew Iā€™d been bored at the dinner. They were objectionably apologetic about it, and they seemed to think now we were going to have a ā€˜good timeā€™ to make up for it. But I hadnā€™t been bored at the dinner, Iā€™d been amused; and the ā€˜good timeā€™ at Mrs. Roscoeā€™s was horribly, horribly stupid.ā€

ā€œBut, Mary,ā€ her mother began, ā€œisā ā€”isā ā€”ā€ And she seemed unable to complete the question.

ā€œNever mind, mamma. Iā€™ll say it. Is Mr. James Sheridan, Junior, stupid? Iā€™m sure heā€™s not at all stupid about business. Otherwiseā ā€”Oh, what right have I to be calling people ā€˜stupidā€™ because theyā€™re not exactly my kind? On the big dinner-table they had enormous icing models of the Sheridan Buildingā ā€”ā€

ā€œOh, no!ā€ Mrs. Vertrees cried. ā€œSurely not!ā€

ā€œYes, and two other things of that kindā ā€”I donā€™t know what. But, after all, I wondered if they were so bad. If Iā€™d been at a dinner at a palace in Italy, and a relief or inscription on one of the old silver pieces had referred to some great deed or achievement of the family, I shouldnā€™t have felt superior; Iā€™d have thought it picturesque and statelyā ā€”Iā€™d have been impressed. And whatā€™s the real difference? The icing is temporary, and thatā€™s much more modest, isnā€™t it? And why is it vulgar to feel important more on account of something youā€™ve done yourself than because of something one of your ancestors did? Besides, if we go back a few generations, weā€™ve all got such hundreds of ancestors it seems idiotic to go picking out one or two to be proud of ourselves about. Well, then, mamma, I managed not to feel superior to Mr. James Sheridan, Junior, because he didnā€™t see anything out of place in the Sheridan Building in sugar.ā€

Mrs. Vertreesā€™s expression had lost none of its anxiety pending the conclusion of this lively bit of analysis, and she shook her head gravely. ā€œMy dear, dear child,ā€ she said, ā€œit seems to meā ā€”It looksā ā€”Iā€™m afraidā ā€”ā€

ā€œSay as much of it as you can, mamma,ā€ said Mary, encouragingly. ā€œI can get it,

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