to carry our eldest daughter to her club, with the dreary reflection
that it was to be still colder later, when young Jones or young Tompkins
would have to bring her home; and when Mrs. Boyzy would wake me from
my slumber and in dressing gown and slippers I would shiver behind the
front door till young Jones and she, after much low murmuring, would
separate, and the light of the family would consent to come inside.
I knew it. I always know it, 'being a victim of dyspepsia--from the
bonbons and other gim-cracks which are served out at my family table
after these lunches and teas, and which are persistently served out
until, as my wife calls it, they are "finished." Had I not that very
evening had served to me a piece of fruit-cake made, I believe, when
our eldest girl was in short dresses! I knew it from the short party
calls which have rattled like bird-shot against the Boyzy mansion, to
the utter wreck of my quiet evenings with Mrs. Boyzy--a woman that I
had much rather talk to than all the callers in the world. And all
this that I knew so well, was put by that estimable woman under the
head of a "real gay winter." Before I could apply the elevating mental
jack-screw that raises me above all earthly troubles, I could not help
feeling that the inquiry was pretty much like asking a scrambling
lobster boiling in the pot, if he was not having a real gay evening?
I am afraid I mentioned--some such impression to my wife, for I was
soon astonished by finding that I was instrumental in the whole
business. "But, my dear," she replied, "we have to do it. Every one
does it." We! I was astonished to find that instead of being a victim
I had been an accessory, perhaps the chief criminal, in bringing it
about. A few questions from the ever-ready partner of my joys soon
convinced me that if I had not been a great criminal, it was only
through lack of time and opportunity. Did I have any idea of what was
due to the position of my family in society? What would become of our
children's "prospects"? What sort of life would my family lead--and