One was always sure of meeting some one of consideration there, which
was pleasant in itself, and also rendered it easy to let one's friends
know where one had been dining. It sounded so flat to boast abruptly,
"I dined at the Catherwaights' last night"; while it seemed only
natural to remark, "That reminds me of a story that novelist, what's
his name, told at Mr. Catherwaight's," or "That English chap, who's
been in Africa, was at the Catherwaights' the other night, and told
me--"
After one of these dinners people always asked to be allowed to look
over Miss Catherwaight's collection, of which almost everybody had
heard. It consisted of over a hundred medals and decorations which
Miss Catherwaight had purchased while on the long tours she made with
her father in all parts of the world. Each of them had been given as a
reward for some public service, as a recognition of some virtue of the
highest order--for personal bravery, for statesmanship, for great
genius in the arts; and each had been pawned by the recipient or sold
outright. Miss Catherwaight referred to them as her collection of
dishonored honors, and called them variously her Orders of the Knights
of the Almighty Dollar, pledges to patriotism and the pawnshops, and
honors at second-hand.
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