o rob it of all vulgar
associations, and to inaugurate it as the key-note of a fine social
symphony.

Mr. Belcher was charmed, and placed by it at his ease. It wrought upon
him and upon the company the effect which she designed. She was
determined he should not only show at his best, but that he should be
conscious of the favor she had won for him.

Before dinner was announced, Mr. Talbot made a little speech to his
guests, ostensibly to give them the good news that Mr. Belcher had
purchased the mansion, built and formerly occupied by Mr. Palgrave, but
really to explain that he had caught him in town on business, and taken
him at the disadvantage of distance from his evening dress, though, of
course, he did not say it in such and so many words. The speech was
unnecessary. Mrs. Dillingham had told the whole story in her own
unapproachable way.

When dinner was announced Mr. Belcher was requested to lead Mrs. Talbot
to her seat, and was himself placed between his hostess and Mrs.
Dillingham. Mrs. Talbot was a stately, beautiful woman, and bore off her
elegant toilet like a queen. In her walk into the dining-room, her
shapely arm rested upon the proprietor's, and her brilliant eyes looked
into his with an expression that flattered to its utmost all the fool
there was in him. There was a little rivalry between the "dear friends;"
but the unrestricted widow was more than a match for the circumspect and
guarded wife, and Mr. Belcher was delighted to find himself seated side
by side with the former.

He had not talked five minutes with Mrs. Dillingham before he knew her.
The exquisite varnish that covered her person and her manners not only
revealed, but made beautiful, the gnarled and stained wood beneath.
Underneath the polish he saw the element that allied her with himself.
There was no subject upon which she could not lead or accompany him with
brilliant talk, yet he felt that there was a coarse under-current of
sympathy by which he could lead her, or she could lead him--where?

The courtly manners of the table, the orderly courses that came and went
as if the domestic administration were some automatic machine, and the
exquisite appointments of the board, all exercised a powerful moral
influence upon him; and though they did not wholly suppress him, they
toned him down, so that he really talked well. He had a fund of small
wit and drollery that was sufficient, at least, for a single dinner;
and, as it was quaint and