stress held fast to her effusive air of
welcome. It had never been fashionable or even allowable not to be at
home when one was at home in Banbridge. When Banbridge ladies went
abroad calling, in the coach, much was exacted. Mrs. Morris could
never have held up her social head again had she fibbed, or bidden
the maid fib--that is, if it had been discovered.

"How lovely your house is, Mrs. Morris!" said Mrs. Van Dorn, affably.
The Morris house was only a year old, and had not yet been nearly
exhausted as a topic of polite conversation.

"Thank you," said Mrs. Morris. "Of course there are things about the
furnishings, but one cannot do everything in a minute."

"Now, my dear Mrs. Morris," said Mrs. Lee, "I think everything is
sweet." Mrs. Lee said sweet with an effect as if she stamped hard to
emphasize it. She made it long and extremely sibilant. Mrs. Lee
always said sweet after that fashion.

"Oh, of course you would rather have all your furniture new, than
part new and part old," said Mrs. Van Dorn; "but, as you say, you
can't do everything at once."

Mrs. Van Dorn was inclined at times to be pugnaciously truthful, when
she heard any one else lie. Her hostess looked uneasily at an old red
velvet sofa in a dark corner, which was not so dark that a worn place
along the front edge did not seem to glare at her. Nobody by any
chance sat on that sofa and looked at the resplendent new one. They
always sat on the new and faced the old. Mrs. Morris began absently
calculating, while the conversation went on to other topics, if she
could possibly manage a new sofa before summer.

Mrs. Lee asked if she knew if the new people in the Ranger place,
"Willow Lake," were very rich? She said she had heard they were
almost millionaires.

"Yes," said Mrs. Morris. "Very rich indeed. Mr. Morris says he thinks
they must be, from everything he hears."

"Of course it does not matter in one way or another whether they are
rich or not," said Mrs. Lee.

"Well, I don't know," said Mrs. Van Dorn. "Of course nobody is going
to say that money is everything, and of course everybody knows that
good character is worth more than anything else, and yet I do feel as
if folks with money can do so much if they have the will."

"I think that these new people are very generous with their money,"
said Mrs. Morris. "I heard they about supported the church in
Hillfield, New York, where they used to live, and Captain Carroll has
joined the Village Imp