No, I don't think there is much to be
learned from respectability on dress parade."
"You'll be amused on Thursday. You must come. I'm counting on you."
Howard accepted--cordially as he could not refuse decently. Yet he had a
presentiment or a shyness or an impatience at the interruption of his
routine which reproached him for accepting with insistence and persistence.
X.
THE ETERNAL MASCULINE.
It was the first week in November, and in those days "everybody" did not
stay in the country so late as now. There were many New Yorkers in the
crowd of out-of-town people at the Waldorf. Howard was attracted,
fascinated by the scene--carefully-groomed men and women, the air of gaiety
and ease, the flowers, the music, the lights, the perfumes. At a glance it
seemed a dream of life with evil and sorrow and pain banished.
"No place for a working man," thought he, "at least not for my kind of a
working man. It appeals too sharply to the instincts for laziness and
luxury."
He was late and stood in the entrance to the palm-garden, looking about for
Segur. Soon he saw him waving from a table near the wall under the
music-alcove.
"The oysters are just coming," said Segur. "Sit over there between Mrs.
Carnarvon and Miss Trevor.
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