lage that was
suitable was the little hall back of the tavern, and the invitations
were verbally given at the meeting when the matter was decided upon; but
as one never knows what emergencies may arise, it is always well to have
a committee ready to act.

The chairwoman of most of the committees was the Baroness Contaletto.
This was not because of her rank, as, in fact, she had no claim to her
title either from birthright or marriage. Her claim rested upon the fine
sense the village had of the fitness of things. She _looked_ like a
baroness: she always made it a point to behave like one. In the course
of time they called her so, and when she added the name of Contaletto,
the village acknowledged the fitness of _that_, and very soon the
Baroness Contaletto was universally accepted, and Thisba Lenowski
forgotten. The reason of her being so many chairwomen also rested on her
fitness. She was a woman of ideas and of deeds. The minister's plans
might come to naught, the editor's predictions be falsified, and the
schoolmaster's reforms die out; but the enterprises undertaken by the
baroness went through to a swift success. Her ideas were both contagious
and epidemic, and she was always a known quantity in the place.

And so when she pooh-poohed the dance, laughed at the tea-drum and
shivered at the idea of the cream-cornet, declaring for the dinner, the
matter was settled, and each of the younger members promptly decided who
she would ask to escort her and deliberated as to what she should wear.

Then the baroness arose. She glanced around. She read the thoughts of
the members. She looked at two women. One was the sister of the county
clerk: she was a woman of the most appreciative character, the clearest
sense, and--she was the faithful echo of the baroness. The second was a
pretty girl. She represented the other pretty girls. Then the baroness
spoke. She said it was of the first importance to do this thing
decorously and in order. When men had suppers they never invited women.
They wanted to have a good time, and women spoiled it. She was not in
favor of an "invitation entertainment." She supposed that what they
wanted was a society, an "Irreparable," dinner. Therefore, _she_ did not
propose to invite men.

"But," said the pretty girl, with a rosy color mounting to her cheeks
and an ominous flash in her eyes, "when I was in New Moscow _I_ was
invited to the Hercules dinner."

"To the table?" asked the baroness.

"Wel