Page:Maud Howe - A Newport Aquarelle.djvu/18

 life in the mother country, Mrs. Fallow-Deer had returned to the home of her youth, a widow, and a very rich woman. She had soon made her house in New York one of the most attractive in the city. A social leader she was born to be, always had been, and was likely to die in harness. She had certain eccentricities, but was essentially conventional in thought and conversation; she had talked so much society talk that it was impossible for her to doff her worldly manner and her social vernacular, which she carried into her most intimate domestic life. From her long residence in England, she had come to be considered by the men and women of her set as a sort of oracle of les convenances.

On arriving, Mr. Larkington had called at Mrs. Fallow-Deer's to deposit his card, his letter, and a bunch of flowers, which Fadden the florist assured him was the finest bouquet he had made up that season. The result of his attention had been an invitation to