ay, anywhere else, is apt
to attend the President's reception in all her finery, and that's why I
suggested that this sort of thing isn't exactly an edifying social
event. It's amusing to come here now and then, just as it's amusing to
go to a menagerie. You see what I mean, don't you?" Flossy asked, plying
her feathery fan with blithe nonchalance and looking into her
companion's face with an innocent air.

"I understand perfectly. And who are these people who draw the line?"

"It sometimes happens," continued Flossy abstractedly, without appearing
to hear this inquiry, "that they improve after they've been in
Washington a few years. Take Mrs. Baker, the Secretary of the Interior's
wife, receiving to-night. When her husband came to Washington three
years ago she had the social adaptability of a solemn horse. But she
persevered and learned, and now as a Cabinet lady she unbends, and is no
longer afraid of compromising her dignity by wearing becoming clothes
and smiling occasionally. But you were asking who the people are who
draw the line. The nice people here just as everywhere else; the people
who have been well educated and have fine sensibilities, and who believe
in modesty, and unselfishness and thorough ways of doing things. You
must know the sort of people I mean. Some of them make too much of mere
manners, but as a class they are able to draw the line because they draw
it in favor of distinction of character as opposed to--what shall I call
it?--haphazard custom-made ethics and social deportment."

Flossy spoke with the artless prattle of one seeking to make herself
agreeable to a new-comer by explaining the existing order of things, but
she had chosen her words as she proceeded with special reference to her
listener's case. There was nothing in her manner to suggest that she was
trifling with the feelings of the wife of Hon. James O. Lyons, but to
Selma's sensitive ear there was no doubt that the impertinent and
unpatriotic tirade had been deliberately aimed at her. The closing words
had a disagreeably familiar sound. Save that they fell from seemingly
friendly lips they recalled the ban which Flossy had hurled at her at
the close of their last meeting--the ban which had decided her to
declare unwavering hostility against social exclusiveness. Its veiled
reiteration now made her nerves tingle, but the personal affront stirred
her less than the conclusion, which the whole of Flossy's commentary
suggested, that