"
"Plenty of kala juggahs. Oh my poor little idea! Kala juggahs in a salon! But
who made you so awfully clever?"
"Perhaps I've tried myself; or perhaps I know a woman who has. I have preached
and expounded the whole matter and the conclusion thereof"--
"You needn't go on. 'Is Vanity.' Polly, I thank you. These vermin--" Mrs.
Hauksbee waved her hand from the veranda to two men in the crowd below who had
raised their hats to her--"these vermin shall not rejoice in a new Scandal
Point or an extra Peliti's. I will abandon the notion of a salon. It did seem
so tempting, though. But what shall I do? I must do something."
"Why? Are not Abana and Pharphar"--
"Jack has made you nearly as bad as himself! I want to, of course. I'm tired
of everything and everybody, from a moonlight picnic at Seepee to the
blandishments of The Mussuck."
"Yes--that comes, too, sooner or later, Have you nerve enough to make your bow
yet?"
Mrs. Hauksbee's mouth shut grimly. Then she laughed. "I think I see myself
doing it. Big pink placards on the Mall: 'Mrs. Hauksbee! Positively her last
appearance on any stage! This is to give notice!' No more dances; no more
rides; no more luncheons; no more theatricals with supper to follow; no more
sparring with one's dearest, dearest friend; no more fencing with an
inconvenient man who hasn't wit enough to clothe what he's pleased to call his
sentiments in passable speech; no more parading of The Mussuck while Mrs.
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