Laura soon discovered that there were three distinct aristocracies in Washington.

One of these, (nick-named the Antiques,) consisted of cultivated, high-bred old families who looked back with pride upon an ancestry that had been always great in the nation's councils and its wars from the birth of the republic downward.

Into this select circle it was difficult to gain admission.

No.

2 was the aristocracy of the middle ground--of which, more anon.