"
"Yes, I have," returned Miss Merrivale, catching rather awkwardly at
the excuse supplied to her.
Chauncy Wilson laughed significantly. He never felt it necessary to
treat the widow with any especial respect.
"Mrs. Sampson passes the whole of Sunday forenoon committing the
society columns of the _Gossip_ to memory, and wishing her name was
there," he chuckled, with a jocoseness which seemed to that lady
extremely ill-timed.
But she kept her temper beautifully, long years of social struggle
having taught her at least this art of self-restraint.
"Dr. Wilson is nothing if not satirical," she returned, with a
conventional smile.
It would not have been displeasing to Miss Merrivale had the floor at
that particular instant opened and engulfed her former hostess. It
needs unusual breadth of mind to forgive those toward whom we have been
discourteous. On the other side of the statue, Frances saw Mrs.
Staggchase watching the encounter with a sort of quiet amusement. It
flashed across her mind that if she were to become Mrs. Rangely, and
live in Boston, it would be necessary to drop Mrs. Sampson from her
calling list, and the reflection instantly followed that the sooner the
process of breaking the acquaintance were begun the better. Her face
insensibly, hardened a little.
"Of course," she said, "one can't help being put into the _Gossip_, but
I should never think of reading it.
Pages:
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316