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Updated: May 28, 2025
And then, in the evening, came Mrs. de Graffenried's opening entertainment, which was one of the great events of the social year. In the general rush of things Montague had not had a chance properly to realize it; but Reggie Mann and Mrs. de Graffenried had been working over it for weeks.
He was an excellent dancer, and a favourite with the ladies, and an old crony of Mrs. De Graffenried's. "Have you known Mr. Gamble long?" he asked, by way of making conversation. "I met him once before," said Montague. "My brother knows him." "Ollie seems to be a great favourite of his," said the Captain. "Queer chap." Montague assented readily.
Devon had worn a white gown, and asked him what he thought of it. "It needs but one thing to make it perfect," said Reggie, and taking a red rose, he pinned it upon her corsage. The effect was magical; every one exclaimed with delight, and so Reggie's reputation as an authority upon dress was made for ever. Now he was Mrs. de Graffenried's right-hand man, and they made up their pranks together.
Reggie was in his glory at Mrs. de Graffenried's affairs. Reggie had arranged all this-he did the designing and the ordering, and contracted for the shows with the agents. You could bet that he had got his commission on them, too though sometimes Mrs. de Graffenried got the shows to come for nothing, because of the advertising her name would bring.
But he could not think very steadily, for his mind kept jumping back to the thought of Jim Hegan. There could be but one explanation of all this. Jim Hegan had set detectives upon him! Nobody else knew anything about the Northern Mississippi Railroad, or wanted to know about it. Jim Hegan! And Montague had met him socially at an entertainment at Mrs. de Graffenried's!
Montague roamed all about the house, and finally went downstairs, where a room had been set apart for the theatrical company to partake of refreshments. Mrs. de Graffenried's secretary was on guard at the door; but some of the boys had got into the room, and were drinking champagne and "making dates" with the chorus-girls.
De Graffenried's intimates it was a sign of vulgarity to be interested in anything. He seemed to have taken quite a fancy to Montague, for reasons best known to himself. He came up to him again, after the luncheon. "This is the first time you've been here, Oliver tells me," said he. Montague assented, and the other added: "You'd better come and let me show you the town. I have my car here."
"Let us eat first and talk afterward," she said, hurriedly. "We'll be happy for a while, anyway." And she went on to be happy, in her nervous and eager way. She talked about the new opera which was to be given, and about Mrs. de Graffenried's new entertainment, and about Mrs. Ridgley-Clieveden's ball; also about the hospital for crippled children which she wanted to build, and about Mrs.
A supper was served at little tables in the great ball-room, and afterward the guests wandered about the house while the tables were whisked out of the way and the room turned into a play-house. A company from one of the Broadway theatres would be bundled into cabs at the end of the performance, and by midnight they would be ready to repeat the performance at Mrs. de Graffenried's.
She joined him in a stroll down the beach, and talked to him about the coming winter season, with its leading personalities and events, the Horse Show, which opened next week, and the prospects for the opera, and Mrs. de Graffenried's opening entertainment.
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