vertheless not done so
badly; she had taken no time at all to establish herself; she had almost
immediately married. In the social estimates of Elgin the Johnsons were
"nice people," Dr Henry was a fine old figure in the town, and Abby's
chances were good enough. At all events, when she opened her doors as
a bride, receiving for three afternoons in her wedding dress, everybody
had "called." It was very distinctly understood, of course, that this
was a civility that need not lead to anything whatever, a kind of bowing
recognition, to be formally returned and quite possibly to end there.
With Abby, in a good many cases, it hadn't ended there; she was doing
very well, and as she often said with private satisfaction, if she went
out anywhere she was just as likely as not to meet her brothers. Elgin
society, shaping itself, I suppose, to ultimate increase and prosperity,
had this peculiarity, that the females of a family, in general
acceptance, were apt to lag far behind the males. Alec and Oliver
enjoyed a good deal of popularity, and it was Stella's boast that if
Lorne didn't go out much it needn't be supposed he wasn't asked. It was
an accepted state of things in Elgin that young men might be invited
without their sisters, implying an imperturbability greater than
London's, since London may not be aware of the existence of sisters,
while Elgin knew all sorts of more interesting things about them. The
young men were more desirable than the young women; they forged ahead,
carrying the family fortunes, and the "nicest" of them were the young
men in the banks. Others might be more substantial, but there was an
allure about a young man in a bank as difficult to define as to resist.
To say of a certain party-giver that she had "about every bank clerk
in town" was to announce the success of her entertainment in ultimate
terms. These things are not always penetrable, but no doubt his
gentlemanly form of labour and its abridgement in the afternoons, when
other young men toiled on till the stroke of six, had something to do
with this apotheosis of the bank clerk, as well as his invariable taste
in tailoring, and the fact that some local family influence was probably
represented in his appointment. Privilege has always its last little
stronghold, and it still operates to admiration on the office stools of
minor finance in towns like Elgin. At all events, the sprouting tellers
and cashiers held unquestioned sway--young doctors and lawy