Miss Perkins, a grave, cold-looking young lady, with an aristocratic nose, bowed politely, and then went on with her work, which displayed two diamond rings to great advantage. Belle, being of the demonstrative sort, smiled and nodded, drew up her chair, and began a whispered account of Trix's last quarrel with Tom. Polly listened with interest while she sewed diligently, occasionally permitting her eyes to study the elegant intricacies of Miss Perkins' dress, for that young lady sat like a statue, quirking her delicate fingers, and accomplishing about two stitches a minute.
In the midst of Belle's story, a more exciting bit of gossip caught her ear, and she plunged into the conversation going on across the table, leaving Polly free to listen and admire the wit, wisdom, and charitable spirit of the accomplished young ladies about her. There was a perfect Babel of tongues, but out of the confusion Polly gathered scraps of fashionable intelligence which somewhat lessened her respect for the dwellers in high places. One fair creature asserted that Joe Somebody took so much champagne at the last German, that he had to be got away, and sent home with two servants. Another divulged the awful fact that Carrie P.'s wedding presents were half of them hired for the occasion. A third circulated a whisper to the effect that though Mrs.
Buckminster wore a thousand-dollar cloak, her boys were not allowed but one sheet to their beds. And a fourth young gossip assured the company that a certain person never had offered himself to a certain other person, though the report was industriously spread by interested parties. This latter remark caused such a clamor that Fanny called the meeting to order in a most unparliamentary fashion.
'Girls! girls! you really must talk less and sew more, or our society will be disgraced. Do you know our branch sent in less work than any of the others. last month, and Mrs. Fitz George said, she did n't see how fifteen young ladies could manage to do so little?'
'We don't talk a bit more than the old ladies do. I just wish you could have heard them go on, last time. The way they get so much done, is, they take work home, and make their seamstresses do it, and then they take credit for vast industry,' said Belle, who always spoke her mind with charming candor.
'That reminds me that mamma says they want as many things as we can make, for it 's a hard winter, and the poor are suffering very much. Do any of you wish to take articles home, to do at odd times?' said Fan, who was president of this energetic Dorcas Society.
'Mercy, no! It takes all my leisure time to mend my gloves and refresh my dresses,'
answered Belle.
'I think if we meet once a week, it is all that should be expected of us, with our other engagements. Poor people always complain that the winter is a hard one, and never are satisfied,' remarked Miss Perkins, making her diamonds sparkle as she sewed buttons on the wrong side of a pink calico apron, which would hardly survive one washing.
'Nobody can ask me to do any more, if they remember all I 've got to attend to before summer,' said Trix, with an important air. 'I 've got three women hard at work, and want another, but everyone is so busy, and ask such abominable prices, that I 'm in despair, and shall have to take hold myself, I 'm afraid.'
'There 's a chance for Jane,' thought Polly, but had n't courage 'to speak out loud in meeting,' just then, and resolved to ask Trix for work, in private.
'Prices are high, but you forget how much more it costs to live now than it used to do.
Mamma never allows us to beat down workwomen, but wishes us to pay them well, and economize in some other way, if we must,' said Emma Davenport, a quiet, bright-eyed girl, who was called 'odd ' among the young ladies, because she dressed simply, when her father was a millionaire.
'Just hear that girl talk about economy! I beg your pardon, she 's some relation of yours, I believe!' said Belle, in a low tone.
'Very distant; but I 'm proud of it; for with her, economy does n't mean scrimping in one place to make a show in another. If every one would follow the Davenports' example, workwomen would n't starve, or servants be such a trouble. Emma is the plainest dressed girl in the room, next to me, yet any one can see she is a true gentlewoman,'
said Polly, warmly.
'And you are another,' answered Belle, who had always loved Polly, in her scatter-brained way.
'Hush! Trix has the floor.'
'If they spent their wages properly, I should n't mind so much, but they think they must be as fine as anybody, and dress so well that it is hard to tell mistress from maid. Why our cook got a bonnet just like mine (the materials were cheaper, but the effect was the same), and had the impertinence to wear it before my face. I forbid it, and she left, of course, which made papa so cross he would n't give me the camel's hair shawl he promised this year.'
'It 's perfectly shameful!' said Miss Perkins, as Trix paused out of breath. 'Servants ought to be made to dress like servants, as they do abroad; then we should have no more trouble,' observed Miss Perkins, who had just made the grand tour, and had brought home a French maid.
'Perky don't practise as she preaches,' whispered Belle to Polly, as Miss P. became absorbed in the chat of her other neighbors. 'She pays her chamber girl with old finery; and the other day, when Betsey was out parading in her missis's cast-off purple plush suit, Mr. Curtis thought she was mademoiselle, and bowed to her. He is as blind as a bat, but recognized the dress, and pulled off his hat to it in the most elegant style. Perky adores him, and was mad enough to beat Betsey when she told the story and giggled over it. Betsey is quite as stylish and ever so much prettier than Perky, and she knows it, which is an aggravation.'
Polly could n't help laughing, but grew sober a minute after, as Trix said, pettishly, 'Well, I 'm sick of hearing about beggars; I believe half of them are humbugs, and if we let them alone they 'd go to work and take care of themselves. There 's altogether too much fuss made about charity. I do wish we could be left in peace.'
'There can't be too much charity!' burst out Polly, forgetting her shyness all at once.
'Oh, indeed! Well, I take the liberty to differ from you,' returned Trix, putting up her glass, and bestowing upon Polly her most 'toploftical stare,' as the girls called it.
I regret to say that Polly never could talk with or be near Trix without feeling irritated and combative. She tried to conquer this feeling, but she could n't, and when Trix put on airs, Polly felt an intense desire to box her ears. That eye-glass was her especial aversion, for Trix was no more near-sighted than herself, but pretended to be because it was the fashion, and at times used the innocent glass as a weapon with which to put down any one who
