ready now. Take my arm, Soeur Angelique. Miss Phebe, will
you come, please?"

CHAPTER IV.

MRS. UPJOHN'S ENTERTAINMENT.

Mrs. Upjohn was going to give an entertainment. She was about to open the
hospitable doors of the great house upon the hill, which seemed to have
chosen that pre-eminence that it might the better overlook the morals of
its neighbors. Joppa held its breath in charmed suspense. The question
was not, Will I be asked? that was affirmatively settled for every
West-End Joppite of party-going years; nor was it, What shall I wear?
which was determined once for all at the beginning of the season; but,
What will be done with me when I get there? For to go to Mrs. Upjohn's
was not the simple thing that it sounded. She wished it to be distinctly
understood that she did not ask people to her house for their amusement,
but for their moral and spiritual improvement; any one could be amused
anywhere, but _she_ wished to show her guests that there were pleasanter
things than pleasure to be had even in social gatherings, and to teach
them to hunger and thirst after better than meat and drink, while at the
same time she took pains always to provide a repast as superior to the
general run as her sentiments, quite atoning to the Joppites for the
spiritual accompaniments to her feast by its material and solid
magnificence, which lingered appetizingly in their memories long after
they had settled their consequent doctors' bills. Yes, the Joppites were
not asked to Mrs. Upjohn's to eat and drink only, or merely to have a
good time, with whatever ulterior intentions of so doing they may have
gone thither. They were asked for a purpose,--a purpose which it was vain
to guess, and impossible to escape. Go they must, and be improved they
must, _bon gre mal gre_, and enjoy themselves they would if they could.

So there were mingled feelings abroad when Mrs. Upjohn's neatly written
invitations found their way into each of the West-End houses, embracing
natives and strangers alike in their all-hospitable sweep, and even
creeping into some outlying less aristocratic quarters, where confusion
worse confounded, in the shape of refurbishing and making over, followed
agonizingly in their wake. The invitations were indited by Miss Maria
Upjohn, it being an opportunity to improve that young lady's handwriting
which her mother could not have conscientiously suffered to pass, and
stated that Mr. and Mrs. Reuben O. Upjohn requested