could not believe that the ``right sort'' of people on the other
side had thrown over all her beloved formalities and were
conducting themselves distressingly like tenement-house people.
For instance, Martha could not approve Jane's habit of smoking
cigarettes--a habit which, by one of those curious freaks of
character, enormously pleased her father. But--except in one
matter--Martha entirely approved Jane's style of dress. She
hastened to pronounce it ``just too elegant'' and repeated that
phrase until Jane, tried beyond endurance, warned her that the
word elegant was not used seriously by people of the ``right
sort'' and that its use was regarded as one of those small but
subtle signs of the loathsome ``middle class.''

The one thing in Jane's dress that Martha disapproved-- or,
rather, shied at--was her riding suit. This was an extremely
noisy plaid man's suit--for Jane rode astride. Martha could not
deny that Jane looked ``simply stunning'' when seated on her
horse and dressed in that garb with her long slim feet and
graceful calves encased in a pair of riding boots that looked as
if they must have cost ``something fierce.'' But was it really
``ladylike''? Hadn't Jane made a mistake and adopted a costume
worn only by the fashionables among the demi-mondaines of whom
Martha had read and had heard such dreadful, delightful stories?

It was the lively plaid that Miss Hastings now clad herself in.
She loved that suit. Not only did it give her figure a superb
opportunity but also it brought out new beauties in her contour
and coloring. And her head was so well shaped and her hair grew
so thickly about brow and ears and nape of neck that it looked
full as well plaited and done close as when it was framing her