erings. Laura was placed on a sofa,
where she lay until after the tea tray was carried out, and then,
calling her husband once more, desired to be taken to her room.

Fanny and Clara sat discussing the dinner, the furniture, and the
guests, and both seemed rather out of spirits. The old gentleman walked
up and down the piazza, thinking deeply, and Margaret alone looked fresh
and happy.

"Who was there, Fanny?" asked she, at length.

"Oh, a stupid set! Excepting ourselves and Mr. and Mrs. Denton, there
was not a decent creature there. Nearly all married people and old
bachelors. I declare, I have no patience with such incongruous
assemblies!"

"There was Mrs. Hildreth's brother! He is quite a beau, I'm sure; and
Clara expressed unbounded admiration of his mustaches and whiskers a few
days since."

"Yes, he was there, and is certainly a very unexceptionable young man.
But what is the use of one beau among four girls? The two Clays were
there, looking as forlorn as Shakspeare's nightingale: and Clara
monopolized Henry Bell, as though he belonged to her."

"Certainly I did," said Clara; "and so would you, if he had given you
the chance. Did you ever see such a dress as Betty Clay had on? She
looked like a buckwheat cake in it."

"And Mrs. Stetson's hair, Clara? Did you notice it? Screwed up behind
into an almost invisible little _catogan_, and put over her ears so
tight that she looked as if she had been in the pillory and came out
with her ears off."

"Was the dinner in good style?" again inquired Maggie.

"Yes, but too elaborate. Those people that have not always been upper
tens think it necessary to crowd their tables, and ruin one's digestive
organs. I declare, I thought I should swoon when that last course came
in. I was actually crammed with dinner, and looked forward to dessert
with a hope of relief!"

"And those two Charlotte Russes! As if one were not enough, with all
that ice-cream and jelly! Mrs. Hildreth said, at least half a dozen
times, how careful Soufflee was about having sweet cream, in spite of
the scarcity and expense. The idea of hinting to guests the cost of
their entertainment! These _parvenu_ people are _too_ absurd. I wish
they would learn _bienseance_ before they rise."

"So you had a dull day?" said Margaret, thinking of hers.

"Not precisely dull, but tedious. Laura does torment poor Phillips so,
that it makes us uncomfortable; and when people have to 'smile and
smile,' as we do, t