Page:Maud Howe - A Newport Aquarelle.djvu/56

 There were half a dozen other invitations to balls and routs of various kinds, and, most important of all to the mind of the Englishman, invitations for a month to the Redwood and Casino Clubs. To the first of these, incorrectly called the "Reading Room," Larkington immediately repaired.

Here he was warmly greeted by the men whose acquaintance he had made on the previous day and evening. These gentlemen introduced him to others.

Cuthbert Larkington had come to Newport, forty-eight hours before, a stranger, with no further claim on society than that implied by a single letter of introduction.

This letter, which was addressed to Mrs. Fallow-Deer, had been given him by a steamer acquaintance, to whom he had lent twenty-five pounds. He now felt that he had gained a footing from which he could climb to the heights of success and popularity.

As he was leaving the Club, Larkington