"I understand the doctors prescribe stimulants for her--she is not at all
strong. They give her artificial strength, she says."

"Yes, she seems to be strong for 'em. Don't you take any?"

"Oh no! I'm a debutante. And mother says she wants to be with me when I
take my first cocktail and smoke my first cigarette."

"Dear girl, Daisy, so fresh and unspoiled! Her mother is one of a
thousand."

This from Manley Knight, who constituted himself Daisy's proxy in the
matter of cocktails and drank all that would have been Daisy's had her
mother permitted.

Goldwin Leathersham seemed to be acting as proxy for some debutante
also, for he seemed to feel pretty bobbish, but Warble was only slightly
interested in the whole matter.

She rolled her Wedgwooden eyes about, hoping the horde would be herded
toward the dining-room. But no such luck.

Instead they drifted in the opposite direction and, swept along with the
crowd, Warble found herself in one of a serried series of gilt chairs,
facing a platform as large as a theater stage.

An erudite looking man who appeared on the platform received tumultous
applause.

"Who is he?" Warble whispered to her neighbor, who chanced to be Avery