With such heaps of divorces, in a very large party you can't help having
some what Mrs. Van Brounker-Courtfield (a perfect old darling of nearly
eighty whom we lunched with on Wednesday) calls "court relations,"
together; by that meaning, supposing Mrs. A. has divorced Mr. A., and
re-married Mr. B., who has been divorced by Mrs. B., who has re-married Mr.
C., who happened to be a widower with grown up married daughters--then the
daughters and the present Mrs. B., late Mrs. A., would be "court
relations," and might meet at lunch. Mr. A. himself and his present wife
would also be the late Mrs. B.'s and present Mrs. C.'s court relations. Do
you understand, Mamma? It is the sort of ones connected with the case whom
it would be unpleasant to speak about it to, but not the actual principals.
And when I asked Mrs. Van Brounker-Courtfield why she called them "court
relations" she said because the divorce court was their common ground of
connection, and it was a very good reason, and quite as true as calling
people blood relations in London or Paris! And that pleased Octavia very
much, because she said it was the first subtle thing she had heard in New
York. But I must get on with the lunch.
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