A Dark Lantern - A Story With a Prologue #230781

UP the sharply defined path of red baize, from curb-stone to portico, and through the wide-set doors of the big house in St. James's Square, a stream of men and women for nearly two hours had been pouring. Fewer were arriving now, and a few were even coming out. Powdered servants were summoning, while others were dis missing carriages, and still through the Open door the little crowd Of huddled street folk without (ranked on either side the red pathway) could watch the difficult passage through the crowded hall of the latest tiara, and grew tired of studying the great stair case packed with a congested mass of humanity unable to move up or down. Lady Peterborough was one Of the small group of great Lon don hostesses whose absence is held to make a difference in the season. She and Lord Peterborough had been for over a year in India and the Far East. This was the first party given on their return.