me of
those in the procession.

"Are the friends with whom you are staying connected with the
Government?" Selma asked airily.

"Official people? Goodness, no. But I can point out to you who everybody
is, for we have been in Washington frequently during the last three
sessions. Gregory has to run over here on business every now and then,
and I almost always come with him. To-night is the opportunity to see
the queer people in all their glory--the woolly curiosities, as Gregory
calls them. And a sprinkling of the real celebrities too," she added.

Selma's inquiry had been put with a view to satisfy herself that
Flossy's friends were mere civilians. But she was glad of an opportunity
to be enlightened as to the names of her fellow-officials, though she
resented Flossy's flippant tone regarding the character of the
entertainment. While she listened to the breezy, running commentary by
which Flossy proceeded to identify for her benefit the conspicuous
figures in the procession she nursed her offended sensibilities.

"I should suppose," she said, taking advantage of a pause, "that on such
an occasion as this everybody worth knowing would be present."

Flossy gave Selma one of her quick glances. She had not forgotten the
past, nor her discovery of the late Mrs. Littleton's real grievance
against her and the world. Nor did she consider that her husband's
caveat debarred her from the amusement of worrying the wife of the Hon.
James O. Lyons, provided it could be done by means of the truth
ingenuously uttered. She said with a confidential smile--

"The important and the interesting political people have other
opportunities to meet one another--at dinner parties and less
promiscuous entertainments than this, and the Washington people have
other opportunities to meet them. Of course the President is a dear, and
everyone makes a point of attending a public reception once in a while,
but this sort of thing isn't exactly an edifying society event. For
instance, notice the woman in the pomegranate velvet with two diamond
sprays in her hair. That's the wife of Senator Colman--his child wife,
so they call her. She came to Washington six years ago as the wife of a
member of the House from one of the wild and woolly States, and was
notorious then in the hotel corridors on account of her ringletty raven
hair and the profusion of rings she wore. She used to make eyes at the
hotel guests and romp with her husband's friends in the hotel