And with such she had to associate--for months, perhaps!--she who had mixed and mingled only with the earth's best! Mrs.Gilbert--naturally Mrs.Gilbert was a widow--did not give Mrs.
De Peyster a second glance.

The other boarders, after their first scrutiny, hardly looked at her again.

The effect was as if all had turned their backs upon her.
Certainly this was odd behavior.
Then, in a flash, she understood.

They were snubbing her as a social inferior! Mrs.De Peyster was beginning to flame when the clergyman they had glimpsed the night before entered and pronounced a sonorous good-morning, all-inclusive, as though intended for a congregation.

He seated himself at a small table just beyond Mrs.De Peyster's and was unfolding his napkin when his eyes fell upon Mrs.De Peyster.