experiences there. It was my impression that if he had spent those two
weeks on a barren rock in the ocean, with only one fair spirit for his
minister, he would have sworn that it was the most lovely spot on the
face of the earth. He always declared that it was the most friendly,
cordial society at this resort in the country. At breakfast he knew
scarcely any one in the vast dining-room, except the New Orleans
and Richmond friends with whom he had a seat at table. But their
acquaintance sufficed to establish his position. Before dinner-time he
knew half a hundred; in the evening his introductions had run up
into the hundreds, and he felt that he had potential friends in every
Southern city; and before the week was over there was not one of the
thousand guests he did not know or might not know. At his table he heard
Irene spoken of and her beauty commented on. Two or three days had
been enough to give her a reputation in a society that is exceedingly
sensitive to beauty. The men were all ready to do her homage, and the
women took her into favor as soon as they saw that Mr. Meigs, whose
social position was perfectly well known, was of her party. The society
of the White Sulphur seems perfectly easy of access, but the ineligible
will find that it is able, like that of Washington, to protect itself.
It was not without a little shock that King heard the good points, the
style, the physical perfections, of Irene so fully commented on, and
not without some alarm that he heard predicted for her a very successful
career as a belle.

Coming out from breakfast, the Benson party were encountered on the
gallery, and introductions followed. It was a trying five minutes for
King, who felt as guilty, as if the White Sulphur were private property
into which he had intruded without an invitation. There was in the
civility of Mr. Meigs no sign of an invitation. Mrs. Benson said she was
never so surprised in her life, and the surprise seemed not exactly
an agreeable one, but Mr. Benson looked a great deal more pleased than
astonished. The slight flush in Irene's face as she greeted him might
have been wholly due to the unexpectedness of the meeting. Some of the
gentlemen lounged off to the office region for politics and cigars, the
elderly ladies took seats upon the gallery, and the rest of the party
strolled down to the benches under the trees.

"So Miss Benson was expecting you!" said Mrs. Farquhar, who was walking
with King. It is enou