of half-lights,
half-tones, eliminations and abbreviations; and she felt a violent
longing to brush away the cobwebs and assert herself as the dominant
figure of the scene.

Yet in the drawing-room, with the ladies, where Mrs. Fairford came and
sat by her, the spirit of caution once more prevailed. She wanted to be
noticed but she dreaded to be patronized, and here again her hostess's
gradations of tone were confusing. Mrs. Fairford made no tactless
allusions to her being a newcomer in New York--there was nothing as
bitter to the girl as that--but her questions as to what pictures had
interested Undine at the various exhibitions of the moment, and which of
the new books she had read, were almost as open to suspicion, since they
had to be answered in the negative. Undine did not even know that there
were any pictures to be seen, much less that "people" went to see them;
and she had read no new book but "When The Kissing Had to Stop," of
which Mrs. Fairford seemed not to have heard. On the theatre they were
equally at odds, for while Undine had seen "Oolaloo" fourteen times, and
was "wild" about Ned Norris in "The Soda-Water Fountain," she had not
heard of the famous Berlin comedians who were performing Shakespeare at
the German Theatre, and knew only by name the clever American actress
who was trying to give "repertory" plays with a good stock company. The
conversation was revived for a moment by her recalling that she had seen
Sarah Bernhard in a play she called "Leg-long," and another which she
pronounced "Fade"; but even this did not carry them far, as she had
forgotten what both plays were about and had found the actress a good
deal older than she expected.

Matters were not improved by the return of the men from the
smoking-room. Henley Fairford replaced his wife at Undine's side; and
since it was unheard-of at Apex for a married man to force his society
on a young girl, she inferred that the others didn't care to talk to
her, and that her host and hostess were in league to take her off their
hands. This discovery resulted in her holding her vivid head very high,
and answering "I couldn't really say," or "Is that so?" to all Mr.
Fairford's ventures; and as these were neither numerous nor striking it
was a relief to both when the rising of the elderly lady gave the signal
for departure.

In the hall, where young Marvell had managed to precede her. Undine
found Mrs. Van Degen putting on her cloak. As she gathered i