Page:Stella Dallas, a novel (IA stelladallasnove00prou).pdf/306

296 had to help him walk. I won't say she was intoxicated, too, because I don't know that she was, but she didn't look right. And she has coarsened—oh, terribly, girls! A woman of that sort always does. And has lost her self-respect as to appearances, as is also usual, I believe. Her clothes were really shabby and his were in actual rags. City's dregs—that's all I could think of as I looked at them—city's dregs."

"How unpleasant," shuddered Rosamond.

"Disgusting, was my word," said Phyllis.

"Revolting, was mine," laughed Mrs. Kay Bird. Myrtle extended a languid arm. "Please pass me the matches, Phyllis. Thank you, dear. She's a depraved woman, girls," she announced. "Always was, and always will be. Oh, here come the men." She flipped her match into the open fire. "Let's cut for partners."

was to be formally presented to New York Society at a tea given at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Dallas, on the afternoon of November the twenty-first, from four until seven-thirty o'clock. Several luncheons in her honor were scheduled for the week following the tea; also several dinners. The names of Miss Dallas's various hostesses were mentioned. So was the fact that Brightswood, her parents' summer home at Green Hills, Long Island, was to be opened over the Thanksgiving holiday, and filled with a house-party, including a number of this season's débutantes. One of the most anticipated affairs of