00 barrels of Briggs's mess beef by General Lee. But
Briggs was rolling in wealth, and could afford to smile at such taunts.

"Flora's mother had been a Miss Van Duysen. She was a little, weak,
useless woman, very proud of her name, which seemed to connect her in
some way with the old Dutch aristocracy. In point of fact, Briggs
married her on this account; for, like most democrats, he is very fond of
anything aristocratic. Mrs. Briggs, _nee_ Van Duysen, has nothing Dutch
about her but her name. The Knickerbockers of New York were famous for
their thrift, their economy, their neatness, and, above all, their
housewifely virtues. Mrs. Briggs is thriftless, extravagant, dowdy in
her old age, although she had been a beauty in her youth, and knows as
little about keeping a house as she does about keeping a horse. During
the war, at a fair given for the benefit of the Sanitary Commission, in
Union Square, several Knickerbocker ladies organized a kitchen upon the
old Dutch model, and presided there in the costumes of their
grandmothers. Mrs. Briggs was placed upon the committee of management,
but declined to serve, on account of the unbecoming costume she was
invited to wear, and because she considered it unladylike to sit in a
kitchen. But Mrs. Briggs preserved her caste, and benefited the Sanitary
Commission much more than she would have done by her presence, by sending
a cheque for $500 instead.

"Do we linger too long upon these family matters? No; to appreciate Miss
Flora, you must understand her surroundings. She has never had a home.
Born in a boarding-house, when her parents were not rich, she lives at a
hotel now that her father is a millionaire. Mr. Briggs married the name
of Van Duysen, in order to get into society. Miss Van Duysen married
Briggs's money, in order to spend it. Miss Flora Van Duysen Briggs
combines her mother's name and her father's money; her Mother's early
beauty and her father's shrewdness; her mother's extravagance and her
father's weakness for the aristocracy. She has good taste, as her
_toilette_ shows; but she does not believe that anything can be tasteful
that is not expensive. Her aim is to run ahead of the fashions, instead
of following them; but she is clever enough to so adapt them to her face
and figure, that she always looks well-dressed, and yet always attracts
attention. Her little handsome head is full of native wit, and of
nothing else. Her education has been shamef