These invitations Etta accepted eagerly. Some women hold it little short
of a crime to refuse an invitation, and go through life regretting that
there is only one evening to each day. To Paul these calls were nothing
new. His secretary had hitherto drawn a handsome salary for doing little
more than refuse such.
It was in Etta's nature to be somewhat carried away by glitter. A great
ball-room, brilliant illumination, music, flowers, and diamonds had an
effect upon her which she enjoyed in anticipation. Her eyes gleamed
brightly on reading the mere card of invitation. Some dull and
self-contained men are only to be roused by the clatter and whirl of a
battle-field, and this stirs them into brilliancy, changing them to new
men. Etta, always brilliant, always bright, exceeded herself on her
battle-field--a great social function.
Since their marriage she had never been so beautiful, her eyes had never
been so sparkling, her color so brilliant as at this moment when she
asked her husband to let her use her title. Hers was the beauty that
blooms not for one man alone, but for the multitude; that feeds not on
the love of one, but on the admiration of many. The murmur of the man in
the street who turned and stared into her carriage was more than the
devotion of her husband.
"A foreign title," answered Paul, "is nothing in England.
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