Merchant of Venice; v.--2.
The fact that her mother was a Beauchester Mrs. Staggchase never
forgot, although she seldom spoke of it. It formed what she would have
called a background to her life, and gave her the liberty of doing many
things which would have been unallowable to persons of less
distinguished ancestry. It was, perhaps, in virtue of her Beauchester
blood, for instance, that she made the somewhat singular selection of
guests brought together at a luncheon which she gave in honor of Miss
Frances Merrivale when that young lady came to pay her a visit, at the
conclusion of her stay with Mrs. Amanda Welsh Sampson.
Miss Merrivale had been in doubt whether she could properly accept this
invitation, in view of the fact that her cousin's wife had neglected to
call upon her since her arrival in Boston. The reflection, however,
that this visit to the Staggchase's was the chief object of her
becoming Mrs. Sampson's guest at all had decided the young lady upon
overlooking considerations of etiquette, and from the flat of the widow
she had removed to the more aristocratic region of Back Bay.
Miss Frances had been shrewd enough to forestall all possible
objections by accepting the invitation before mentioning it to Mrs.
Sampson; and however deep the chagrin of that enterprising individual,
she was too astute to protest against the inevitable.
Pages:
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247