114 A haie-dresser's experience
while his wife was lying sick at the Irving House, New
York. Many ladies, both from our city and New
York, knew this to be the case, but, at such places,
ladies will receive attentions from men, even knowing
them to be broken sticks.
In a few days came off a grand dress ball; I was
more than proud that my lady was called the loveli¬
est lady in the room. I was amused watching the
maneuvers of a middle-aged widow lady, from our
city, of great wealth, elegantly dressed, playing off as
a young girl of fifteen, with a gentleman from New
York, nearly of her own age, but dressed as a young
man of twenty; they were coquetting and flirting all
the evening.
The ball passed off very pleasantly, till near the
end, when some words occurred between a married
gentleman and a young one, about a lady from New
York ; the young gentleman blacked both the eyes of
the other gentleman, which closed the ball.
Among the ladies at Newport, I noticed one whom
I had often seen at New York, Saratoga, and other
places, and who had always been a leader of fashion
wherever she went. With some surprise I observed
that this lady was scarcely noticed by those with whom
she had formerly been very intimate ; and those who
had once been glad to receive the slightest token of
recognition from her, now swept haughtily by her,
without deigning a glance.
Many surmises did I make, to account for this
change in the manner of the fashionables toward the
lady ; but none were satisfactory. Her husband's po¬
sition was exalted—his wealth was immense. There
was a mystery about the matter which puzzled me,
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