parlors,
which was the theatre of her social activities. Her husband died, and a
year ago she married old Senator Colman, old enough to be her
grandfather, and one of the very rich and influential men in the Senate.
Now she has developed social ambition and is anxious to entertain. They
have hired a large house for the winter and are building a larger one.
As Mrs. Polsen--that was her first husband's name--she was invited
nowhere except to wholesale official functions like this. The wife of a
United States Senator with plenty of money can generally attract a
following; she is somebody. And it happens that people are amused by
Mrs. Cohnan's eccentricities. She still overdresses, and makes eyes, and
she nudges those who sit next her at table, but she is good-natured,
says whatever comes into her head, and has a strong sense of humor. So
she is getting on."

"Getting on among society people?" said Selma drily.

Flossy's eyes twinkled. "Society people is the generic name used for
them in the newspapers. I mean that she is making friends among the
women who live in the quarter where I passed you the other day."

Selma frowned. "It is not necessary, I imagine, to make friends of that
class in order to have influence in Washington,--the best kind of
influence. I can readily believe that people of that sort would interest
most of our public women very little."

"Very likely. I don't think you quite understand me, Mrs. Lyons, or we
are talking at cross purposes. What I was trying to make clear is that
political and social prominence in Washington are by no means
synonimous. Of course everyone connected with the government who
desires to frequent Washington society and is socially available is
received with open arms; but, if people are not socially available, it
by no means follows that they are able to command social recognition
merely because they hold political office,--except perhaps in the case
of wives of the Cabinet, of the Justices of the Supreme Court, or of
rich and influential Senators, where a woman is absolutely bent on
success and takes pains. I refer particularly to the wives, because a
single man, if he is reasonably presentable and ambitious, can go about
more or less, even if he is a little rough, for men are apt to be
scarce. But the line is drawn on the women unless they are--er--really
important and have to be tolerated for official reasons. Now every woman
who is not _persona grata_, as the diplomats s