Mrs.Merrill was a woman of superior mood and education who found herself, in her own estimation, hard put to it for suitable companionship in Chicago.

She was Eastern-bred-Boston--and familiar in an offhand way with the superior world of London, which she had visited several times.

Chicago at its best was to her a sordid commercial mess.

She preferred New York or Washington, but she had to live here.

Thus she patronized nearly all of those with whom she condescended to associate, using an upward tilt of the head, a tired droop of the eyelids, and a fine upward arching of the brows to indicate how trite it all was.
It was a Mrs.Henry Huddlestone who had pointed out Mrs.Merrill to Aileen.