nbridge, in his best coach, with his two best
horses. The horses, indeed, two fat bays, were considered as rather
sacred to fashionable calls, as was the coach, quite a resplendent
affair, with very few worn places in the cloth lining.

Banbridge ladies never walked to make fashionable calls. They had a
coach even for calls within a radius of a quarter of a mile, where
they could easily have walked, and did walk on any other occasion. It
would have shocked the whole village if a Banbridge woman had gone
out in her best array, with her card-case, making calls on foot.
Therefore, in this respect the ladies who were better off in this
world's goods often displayed a friendly regard for those who could
ill afford the necessary expense of state calls. Often one would
invite another to call with her, defraying all the expenses of the
trip, and Mrs. Van Dorn had so invited Mrs. Lee to-day. Mrs. Lee, who
was a small, elderly woman, was full of deprecating gratitude and a
sense of obligation which made it appear incumbent upon her not to
differ with her companion in any opinion which she might advance,
and, as a rule, to give her the initiative in conversation during
their calls, and the precedence in entry and retreat.

Mrs. Van Dorn was as small as her companion, but with a confidence of
manner which seemed to push her forward in the field of vision
farther than her size warranted.

She was also highly corseted, and much trimmed over her shoulders,
which gave an effect of superior size and weight; her face, too, was
very full and rosy, while the other's was narrow and pinched at the
chin and delicately transparent.

Mrs. Van Dorn sat quite erect on the very edge of the seat, and so
did Mrs. Lee. Each held her card-case in her two hands encased in
nicely cleaned, white kid gloves. Each wore her best gown and her
best bonnet. The coach was full of black velvet streamers, and lace
frills and silken lights over precise knees, and the nodding of
flowers and feathers.

There was, moreover, in the carriage a strong odor of Russian violet,
which diffused itself around both the ladies. Russian violet was the
calling perfume in vogue in Banbridge. It nearly overcame the more
legitimate fragrance of the spring day which floated in through the
open windows of the coach.

It was a wonderful day in May. The cherry-trees were in full bloom,
and tremulous with the winged jostling of bees, and the ladies
inhaled the sweetness interming