“What did you say to that?”
“Nothing,” answered Alice. “Just
then Mrs. Landis came in, and Miss Hegan went away.”
“Miss Hegan?” echoed Montague.
“Yes,” said the other. “That’s
her name—Laura Hegan. Have you met
her?”
The Horse Show was held in Madison Square Garden,
a building occupying a whole city block. It seemed
to Montague that during the four days he attended
he was introduced to enough people to fill it to the
doors. Each one of the exquisite ladies and gentlemen
extended to him a delicately gloved hand, and remarked
what perfect weather they were having, and asked him
how long he had been in New York, and what he thought
of it. Then they would talk about the horses,
and about the people who were present, and what they
had on.
He saw little of his brother, who was squiring the
Walling ladies most of the time; and Alice, too, was
generally separated from him and taken care of by
others. Yet he was never alone—there
was always some young matron ready to lead him to
her carriage and whisk him away to lunch or dinner.
Many times he wondered why people should be so kind
to him, a stranger, and one who could do nothing for
them in return. Mrs. Billy Alden undertook to
explain it to him, one afternoon, as he sat in her
box. There had to be some people to enjoy, it
appeared, or there would be no fun in the game.
“Everything is new and strange to you,”
said she, “and you’re delicious and refreshing;
you make these women think perhaps they oughtn’t
to be so bored after all! Here’s a woman
who’s bought a great painting; she’s told
that it’s great, but she doesn’t understand
it herself—all she knows is that it cost
her a hundred thousand dollars. And now you come
along, and to you it’s really a painting—and
don’t you see how gratifying that is to her?”
“Oliver is always telling me it’s bad
form to admire,” said the man, laughing.
“Yes?” said the other. “Well,
don’t you let that brother of yours spoil you.
There are more than enough of blase people in town—you
be yourself.”
He appreciated the compliment, but added, “I’m
afraid that when the novelty is worn off, people will
be tired of me.”
“You’ll find your place,” said Mrs.
Alden—“the people you like and who
like you.” And she went on to explain that
here he was being passed about among a number of very
different “sets,” with different people
and different tastes. Society had become split
up in that manner of late—each set being
jealous and contemptuous of all the other sets.
Because of the fact that they overlapped a little at
the edges, it was possible for him to meet here a
great many people who never met each other, and were
even unaware of each other’s existence.
