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In Mrs Peniston's youth, fashion had returned to town in October; therefore on the tenth day of the month the blinds of her Fifth Avenue residence were drawn up, and the eyes of the Dying Gladiator in bronze who occupied the drawing-roohfare

The first teeks after her return represented to Mrs Peniston the doh" the linen and blankets in the precise spirit of the penitent exploring the inner folds of conscience; she sought forinfirmities The topmost shelf of every closet was made to yield up its secret, cellar and coal-bin were probed to their darkest depths and, as a final stage in the lustral rites, the entire house athed in penitential white and deluged with expiatory soapsuds

It was on this phase of the proceedings that Miss Bart entered on the afternoon of her return fro The journey back to town had not been calculated to soothe her nerves Though Evie Van Osburgh's engagement was still officially a secret, it was one of which the innumerable intimate friends of the fauests buzzed with allusions and anticipations Lily was acutely aware of her own part in this drama of innuendo: she knew the exact quality of the amusement the situation evoked The crude forms in which her friends took their pleasure included a loud enjoy destiny in the act of playing a practical joke

Lily kneell enough how to bear herself in difficult situations She had, to a shade, the exact manner between victory and defeat: every insinuation was shed without an effort by the bright indifference of herto feel the strain of the attitude; the reaction was ust

As was always the case with her, this moral repulsion found a physical outlet in a quickened distaste for her surroundings She revolted froliness of Mrs Peniston's black walnut, froled odour of sapolio and furniture-polish that met her at the door

The stairs were still carpetless, and on the way up to her roo tide of soapsuds Gathering up her skirts, she drew aside with an iesture; and as she did so she had the odd sensation of having already found herself in the sas It see the staircase fro down to remonstrate with the dispenser of the soapy flood, she found herself met by a lifted stare which had once before confronted her under similar circu on cri curiosity, the same apparent reluctance to let her pass On this occasion, however, Miss Bart was on her own ground