They could not be said to mingle in the way that an American crowd
would have done under like circumstances--the elements of society in an
aristocratic country are as incapable of mingling as oil and water. The
oil floated placidly on top, while the water disported itself
contentedly beneath.
The oil, to preserve the simile, consisted, in the first place, of a
number of self-important individuals stalking solemnly up and down,
seemingly unconscious of the fact that they were not as solitary as
Crusoe; and, in the second place, of certain solid, cohesive groups,
presenting to the world a front as impenetrable and threatening as any
Austrian phalanx, and guarding in their midst two or three young girls
who must, at any hazard, be kept unspotted from the world. Strange to
say, the girls appeared contented, even happy; the position seemed to
them, no doubt, the normal one for them to occupy--and they could, of
course, look forward with certainty to the opening of the prison door
when a marriage should be arranged for them. They order this matter
better in Europe; or, at least, differently, for there, as a discerning
observer has pointed out, marriage means always that a woman is taken
down from the shelf, while with us, alas, too often! that she is placed
upon it, never to be removed!
To this class, too, belonged certain obese women and emaciated men
sitting, in couples, under the gay sunshades with which the beach was
bright.
Pages:
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126