scenery and climate. Warm days and
cool nights and simplicity was her idea. Mavick reported that the place
seemed made for the family.

Evelyn was not yet out, but she was very nearly out, and after the late
notoriety Mrs. Mavick dreaded the regular Newport season. And, in the
mood of the moment, she was tired of the Newport palace. She always said
that she liked simplicity--a common failing among people who are not
compelled to observe it. Perhaps she thought she was really fond of
rural life and country ways. As she herself said,

"If you have a summer cottage at Newport or Lenox, it is necessary to
go off somewhere and rest." And then it would be good for Evelyn to
live out-of-doors and see the real country, and, as for herself, as she
looked in the mirror, "I shall drink milk and go to bed early. Henderson
used to say that a month in New Hampshire made another woman of me."

Oh, to find a spot where we could be undisturbed, alone and unknown.
That was the program. But Carmen simply could not be anywhere content
if she were unnoticed. It was not so easy to give up daily luxury, and
habits of ease at the expense of attendants, or the ostentation which
had become a second nature. Therefore the "establishment" went along
with her to Rivervale, and the shy, modest little woman, who had dropped
down into the country simplicity that she so dearly loved, greatly
enjoyed the sensation that her coming produced. It needed no effort
on her part to produce the sensation. The carriage, and coachman and
footman in livery, would have been sufficient; and then the idea of one
family being rich enough to take the whole hotel!

The liveries, the foreign cook in his queer cap and apron, and all the
goings-on at the Peacock were the inexhaustible topic of talk in every
farmhouse for ten miles around. Rivervale was a self-respecting town,
and principled against luxury and self-indulgence, and judged with
a just and severe judgment the world of fashion and of the grasping,
wicked millionaires. And now this world with all its vain show had
plumped down in the midst of them. Those who had traveled and seen
the ostentation of cities smiled a superior smile at the curiosity
and wonder exhibited, but even those who had never seen the like were
cautious about letting their surprise appear. Especially in the presence
of fashion and wealth would the independent American citizen straighten
his backbone, reassuring himself that he was as good as