thing
inappropriate would have been extremely mortifying to Mrs. Hubbard, and
she was evidently resolved, at the price of eternal vigilance, to prove
her familiarity with what she frequently referred to as "the right
thing." Mr. Hubbard appeared to have no such preoccupations. Garnett,
if called upon to describe him, would have done so by saying that he
was the American who always pays. The young man, in the course of his
foreign wanderings, had come across many fellow-citizens of Mr.
Hubbard's type, in the most diverse company and surroundings; and
wherever they were to be found, they always had their hands in their
pockets. Mr. Hubbard's standard of gentility was the extent of a man's
capacity to "foot the bill"; and as no one but an occasional compatriot
cared to dispute the privilege with him, he seldom had reason to doubt
his social superiority.

Garnett, nevertheless, did not believe that this lavish pair were, as
Mrs. Newell would have phrased it, "putting up" Hermione's _dot_. They
would go very far in diamonds, but they would hang back from
securities. Their readiness to pay was indefinably mingled with a dread
of being expected to, and their prodigalities would take flight at the
first hint of coercion. Mrs. Newell, who had had a good deal of
experience in managing this type of millionaire, could be trusted not
to arouse their susceptibilities, and Garnett was therefore certain
that the chimerical legacy had been extracted from other pockets. There
were none in view but those of Baron Schenkelderff, who, seated at Mrs.
Hubbard's right, with a new order in his button-hole, and a fresh glaze
upon his features, enchanted that lady by his careless references to
crowned heads and his condescending approval of the champagne. Garnett
was more than ever certain that it was the Baron who was paying; and it
was this conviction which made him suddenly feel that, at any cost,
Hermione's marriage must take place. He had felt no special interest in
the marriage except as one more proof of Mrs. Newell's extraordinary
capacity; but now it appealed to him from the girl's own stand-point.
For he saw, with a touch of compunction, that in the mephitic air of
her surroundings a love-story of surprising freshness had miraculously
flowered. He had only to intercept the glances which the young couple
exchanged to find himself transported to the candid region of romance.
It was evident that Hermione adored and was adored; that the lov