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she'd have been too clever。  The head doctor even had to lend me the money for

my ticket home。〃



〃I didn't mean anything unpleasant about YOU;〃 Edith babbled。  〃I only meant I

thought she was the kind of girl who was so simply crazy to marry somebody

she'd have married anybody that asked her。〃



〃Yes; yes;〃 said Bibbs; 〃it's all straight。〃  And; perceiving that his

sister's expression was that of a person whose adroitness has set matters

prefectly to rights; he chuckled silently。



〃Roscoe's perfectly lovely to her;〃 she continued; a moment later。  〃Too

lovely!  If he'd wake up a little and lay down the law; some day; like a MAN;

I guess she'd respect him more and learn to behave herself!〃



〃'Behave'?〃



〃Oh; well; I mean she's so insincere;〃 said Edith; characteristically evasive

when it came to stating the very point to which she had led; and in this not

unique of her sex。



Bibbs contented himself with a non…committal gesture。  〃Business is crawling

up the old streets;〃 he said; his long; tremulous hand indicating a vasty

structure in course of erection。  〃The boarding…houses come first and then

the〃



〃That isn't for shops;〃 she informed him。  〃That's a new investment of papa's

the 'Sheridan Apartments。'〃



〃Well; well;〃 he murmured。  〃I supposed 'Sheridan' was almost well enough

known here already。〃



〃Oh; we're well enough known ABOUT!〃 she said; impatiently。  〃I guess there

isn't a man; woman; child; or nigger baby in town that doesn't know who we

are。  But we aren't in with the right people。〃



〃No!〃 he exclaimed。  〃Who's all that?〃



〃Who's all what?〃



〃The 'right' people。'〃



〃You know what I mean:  the best people; the old familiesthe people that

have the real social position in this town and that know they've got it。〃



Bibbs indulged in his silent chuckle again; he seemed greatly amused。  〃I

thought that the people who actually had the real what…you…may…call…it didn't

know it;〃 he said。  〃I've always understood that it was very unsatisfactory;

because if you thought about it you didn't have it; and if you had it you

didn't know it。〃



〃That's just bosh;〃 she retorted。  〃They know it in this town; all right!  I

found out a lot of things; long before we began to think of building out in

this direction。  The right people in this town aren't always the

society…column ones; and they mix around with outsiders; and they don't all

belong to any one clubthey're taken in all sorts into all their clubsbut

they're a clan; just the same; and they have the clan feeling and they're just

as much We; Us and Company as any crowd you read about anywhere in the world。

Most of 'em were here long before papa came; and the grandfathers of the girls

of my age knew each other; and〃



〃I see;〃 Bibbs interrupted; gravely。  〃Their ancestors fled together from many

a stricken field; and Crusaders' blood flows in their veins。  I always

understood the first house was built by an old party of the name of Vertrees

who couldn't get along with Dan'l Boone; and hurried away to these parts

because Dan'l wanted him to give back a gun he'd lent him。〃



Edith gave a little ejaculation of alarm。  〃You mustn't repeat that story;

Bibbs; even if it's true。  The Vertreeses are THE best family; and of course

the very oldest here;  they were an old family even before Mary Vertrees's

great…great…grandfather came west and founded this settlement。  He came from

Lynn; Massachusetts; and they have relatives there YETsome of the best

people in Lynn!〃



〃No!〃 exclaimed Bibbs; incredulously。



〃And there are other old families like the Vertreeses;〃 she went on; not

heeding him; 〃the Lamhorns and the Kittersbys and the J。 Palmerston Smiths〃



〃Strange names to me;〃 he interrupted。  〃Poor things!  None of them have my

acquaintance。〃



〃No; that's just it!〃 she cried。  〃And papa had never even heard the name of

Vertrees!  Mrs。 Vertrees went with some anti…smoke committee to see him; and

he told her that smoke was what made her husband bring home his wages from the

pay…roll on Saturday night!  HE told us about it; and I thought I just

couldn't live through the night; I was so ashamed!  Mr。 Vertrees has always

lived on his income; and papa didn't know him; of course。  They're the

stiffist; most elegant people in the whole town。  And to crown it all; papa

went and bought the next lot to the old Vertrees country mansionit's in the

very heart of the best new residence district now; and that's where the New

House is; right next door to themand I must say it makes their place look

rather shabby!  I met Mary Vertrees when I joined the Mission Service Helpers;

but she never did any more than just barely bow to me; and since papa's break

I doubt if she'll do that!  They haven't called。〃



〃And you think if I spread this gossip about Vertrees the First stealing Dan'l

Boone's gun; the chances that they WILL call〃



〃Papa knows what a break he made with Mrs。 Vertrees。  I made him understand

that;〃 said Edith; demurely; 〃and he's promised to try and meet Mr。 Vertrees

and be nice to him。  It's just this way: if we don't know THEM; it's

practically no use in our having build the New House; and if we DO know them

and they're decent to us; we're right with the right people。  They can do the

whole thing for us。 Bobby Lamhorn told Sibyl he was going to bring his mother

to call on her and on mamma; but it was weeks ago; and I notice he hasn't done

it; and if Mrs。  Vertrees decides not to know us; I'm darn sure Mrs。 Lamhorn

'll never come。  That's ONE thing Sibyl didn't manage!  She SAID Bobby offered

to bring his mother〃



〃You say he is a friend of Roscoe's?〃 Bibbs asked。



〃Oh; he's a friend of the whole family;〃 she returned; with a petulance which

she made an effort to disguise。  〃Roscoe and he got acquainted somewhere; and

they take him to the theater about every other night。  Sibyl has him to lunch;

too; and keeps〃  She broke off with an angry little jerk of the head。 〃We

can see the New House from the second corner ahead。  Roscoe has built straight

across the street from us; you know。  Honestly; Sibyl makes me think of a

snake; sometimesthe way she pulls the wool over people's eyes!  She honeys

up to papa and gets anything in the world she wants out of him; and then makes

fun of him behind his backyes; and to his face; but HE can't see it!  She

got him to give her a twelve…thousand…dollar porch for their house after it

was〃



〃Good heavens!〃 said Bibbs; staring ahead as they reached the corner and the

car swung to the right; following a bend in the street。  〃Is that the New

House?〃



〃Yes。  What do you think of it?〃



〃Well;〃 he drawled; 〃I'm pretty sure the sanitarium's about half a size

bigger; I can't be certain till I measure。〃



And a moment later; as they entered the driveway; he added; seriously:  〃But

it's beautiful!〃





It was gray stone; with long roofs of thick green slate。  An architect who

loved the milder 〃Gothic motives〃 had built what he liked:  it was to be seen

at once that he had been left unhampered; and he had wrought a picture out of

his head into a noble and exultant reality。  At the same time a

landscape…designer had played so good a second; with ready…made accessories of

screen; approach and vista; that already whatever look of newness remained

upon the place was to its advantage; as showing at least one thing yet clean

under the grimy sky。  For; though the smoke was thinner in this direction; and

at this long distance from the heart of the town; it was not absent; and

under tutelage of wind and weather could be malignant even here; where cows

had wandered in the meadows and corn had been growing not ten years gone。



Altogether; the New House was a success。  It was one of those architects'

successes which leave the owners veiled in privacy; it revealed nothing of the

people who lived in it save that they were rich。  There are houses that cannot

be detached from their own people without protesting:  every inch of mortar

seems to mourn the separation; and such a houseno matter what be done to

itis ever murmurous with regret; whispering the old name sadly to itself

unceasingly。  But the New House was of a kind to change hands without emotion。

In our swelling cities; great places of its type are useful as financial

gauges of the business tides; rich families; one after another; take title and

occupy such houses as fortunes rise and fallthey mark the high tide。  It was

impossible to imagine a child's toy wagon left upon a walk or driveway of the

New House; and yet it wasas Bibbs rightly called it 〃beautiful。〃



What the architect thought of the 〃Golfo di Napoli;〃 which hung in its vast

gold revel of rococo frame against the gray wood of the hall; is to be

conjecturedperhaps he had not seen it。



〃Edith; did you say only eleven feet?〃 Bibbs panted; staring at it; as the

white…jacketed twin of a Pullman porter hel

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