. Of course he's very much interested in literature,
from his point of view, and he's glad to find any of the young men
interested in it, and that's apt to make him overdo matters a little."

"Dan wished me to talk with him, and I shall certainly be glad to do
so," said the father, but in a tone which conveyed to Mrs. Pasmer the
impression that though he was always open to conviction, his mind was
made up on this point, whatever it was.

VI.

The party went to half a dozen spreads, some of which were on a scale
of public grandeur approaching that of the Gymnasium, and others of
a subdued elegance befitting the more private hospitalities in the
students' rooms. Mrs. Pasmer was very much interested in these rooms,
whose luxurious appointments testified to the advance of riches and
of the taste to apply them since she used to visit students' rooms in
far-off Class Days. The deep window nooks and easy-chairs upholstered
in the leather that seems sacred alike to the seats and the shelves of
libraries; the aesthetic bookcases, low and topped with bric-a-brac; the
etchings and prints on the walls, which the elder Mavering went up to
look at with a mystifying air of understanding such things; the foils
crossed over the chimney, and the mantel with its pipes, and its
photographs of theatrical celebrities tilted about over it--spoke of
conditions mostly foreign to Mrs. Pasmer's memories of Harvard. The
photographed celebrities seemed to be chosen chiefly for their beauty,
and for as much of their beauty as possible, Mrs. Pasmer perceived, with
an obscure misgiving of the sort which an older generation always likes
to feel concerning the younger, but with a tolerance, too, which was
personal to herself; it was to be considered that the massive thought
and honest amiability of Salvini's face, and the deep and spiritualized
power of Booth's, varied the effect of these companies of posturing
nymphs.

At many places she either met old friends with whom she clamoured over
the wonder of their encounter there, or was made acquainted with new
people by the Saintsburys. She kept a mother's eye on her daughter, to
whom young Mavering presented everybody within hail or reach, and
whom she could see, whenever she looked at her, a radiant centre of
admiration. She could hear her talk sometimes, and she said to herself
that really Alice was coming out; she had never heard her say so many
good things before; she did not know it was in