The Piercing Eye and the Peremptory Manner that caused all the
Book-keepers to fall off from their High Perches and prostrate
themselves had no visible effect on Laura and the Girls. Popsy was a
High Guy at the Directors' Meeting, but a mighty cheap Souffle at his
own Fireside. Any time that his Plans did not coincide with those of
the Feminine Bunch, they passed him a backhanded Veto that would cause
him to lie quiet for Days at a time.
[Illustration: _Scrub Town._]
The Financier loved the boundless West, where the Sack Coat abounds
and the Cuss-Word is a common Heritage. Domestic Cigars were good
enough for him, and he figured that one good reliable Hired Girl
who knew how to cook Steak was all the Help that was needed in any
House. But Mother had seen Fifth Avenue in a Dream, and the Girls had
attended a Boarding School at which nearly every one knew some one who
was Prominent Socially. They had done a lot of Hard Work at the Piano
and taken a side-hold on the French Language and it seemed to them
that they were wasting their Time in loitering on the Outskirts of
Civilization when they might be up at Headquarters cutting more or
less of a Gash. All the Young Men in this Reub Town wore Derbies
with their Evening Clothes and came to Dances with their White Gloves
smelling of Gasoline, in addition to which they lacked Repose. If they
had stopped to cultivate Repose, most of them would have landed in the
Villa set aside for Paupers.
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