Philip
knew slightly, who had the reputation of being the distributer if not
the fountain of social information, and had the power of attracting
gossip as a magnet does iron filings, gave Philip much valuable
information concerning the function.

"Mrs. Mavick has done it this time. Everybody has tumbled in. Washington
is drained of its foreign diplomats, the heavy part of the cabinet is
moved over to represent the President, who sent a gracious letter, the
select from Boston, the most ancient from Philadelphia, and I know that
Chicago comes in a special train. Oh, it's the thing. I assure you
there was a scramble for invitations in the city. Lots of visiting
nobility--Count de l'Auney, I know, and that little snob, Lord
Montague."

"Who is he?"

"Lord Crewe Monmouth Fitzwilliam, the Marquis of Montague, eldest son of
the Duke of Tewkesbury. He's a daisy.

"They say he is over here looking for capital to carry on his peer
business when he comes into it. Don't know who put up the money for the
trip. These foreigners keep a sharp eye on our market, I can tell you.
They say she is a nice little girl, rather a blue-stocking, face rather
intelligent than pretty, but Montague won't care for that--excuse the
old joke, but it is the figure Monte is after. He hasn't any manners,
but he's not a bad sort of a fellow, generally good-natured, immensely
pleased with New York, and an enthusiastic connoisseur in club drinks."

At the proper hour--the hour, it came into, his mind, when the dear ones
at Rivervale had been long in sleep, lulled by the musical flow of
the Deerfield--Philip made his way to the reception room, where there
actually was some press of a crowd, in lines, to approach the attraction
of the evening, and as he waited his turn he had leisure to observe the
brilliant scene. There was scarcely a person in the room he knew. One or
two ladies gave him a preoccupied nod, a plain little woman whom he
had talked with about books at a recent dinner smiled upon him
encouragingly. But what specially impressed him at the moment was the
seriousness of the function, the intentness upon the presentation, and
the look of worry on the faces of the women in arranging trains and
avoiding catastrophes.

As he approached he fancied that Mr. Mavick looked weary and bored, and
that a shade of abstraction occasionally came over his face as if it
were difficult to keep his thoughts on the changing line.

But his face lighted up a l