F. Colburn (Francis Colburn) Adams
Chapter 53
vulgar always knew what General danced with the lovely Miss A., and
how they looked, and what they said to each other; how many jewels
Miss A. wore, and the material her dress was made of; they knew who
polked with the accomplished Miss B., and how like a duchess she
bore herself; they had the exact name of the colonel who dashed
along so like a knight with the graceful and much-admired Mrs. D.,
whose husband was abroad serving his country; what gallant captain
of dragoons (captains of infantry were looked upon as not what they
might be) promenaded so imperiously with the vivacious Miss E.; and
what distinguished foreigner sat all night in the corner holding a
suspicious and very improper conversation with Miss F., whose skirts
never were free of scandal, and who had twice got the pretty parson
into difficulty with his church. Hence there was a perpetual
outgoing of scandal on the one side, and pelting of dirt on the
other.
When Mr. Soloman sought the presence of Mrs. Swiggs and told her it
was all up with the St. Cecilia, and when that august member of the
society was so happily disappointed by his concluding with leaving
it an undamaged reputation, the whole story was not let out. In
truth the society was at that moment in a state of indignation, and
its reputation as well-nigh the last stage of disgrace as it were
possible to bring it without being entirely absorbed. The Baronet,
who enjoyed a good joke, and was not over-scrupulous in measuring
the latitude of our credulity, had, it seems, in addition to the
little affair with Mrs. Constance, been imprudent enough to
introduce at one of the assemblies of the St. Cecilia, a lady of
exceedingly fair but frail import: this loveliest of creatures-this
angel of fallen fame--this jewel, so much sought after in her own
casket-this child of gentleness and beauty, before whom a dozen
gallant knights were paying homage, and claiming her hand for the
next waltz, turned out to be none other than the Anna Bonard we have
described at the house of Madame Flamingo. The discovery sent the