The nouveau riche never quite purges his mind of the instinct commercial, and it therefore goes against the grain to pay heavily for a form of entertainment which his soul had not the opportunity of learning to love in its youth.

The aristocrat, on the other hand, has usually been brought up to the cultivation of enjoyment, and he therefore spends with perfect equanimity more on his pleasure than the bourgeois mind can countenance.
The ball to which Paul and Etta were going was managed by some titled ladies who knew their business well.

The price of the tickets was fabulous.

The lady patronesses of the great Charity Ball were tactful and unabashed.

They drew the necessary line (never more necessary than it is to-day) with a firm hand.
The success of the ball was therefore a foregone conclusion.