At the door of the dining-room she paused again, judging through her glass
the table and its dainty decorations.
"Those flowers are rather high," she declared, and calling upon Milly for
help, she began rearranging the roses, and laying the twigs of holly upon
the cloth in bolder patterns. She seemed to take charge, to adopt me with
the house, to accept and audit and vouch for us.
Then people began coming all at once, all together, and I had to take my
place beside Mrs. Baker and Aunt Marcia in the reception room.
I can't tell anything about the next hour; it's a blur. But I wouldn't
have missed a minute. I had never before seen a reception, except at the
University where sometimes I used to serve as an usher, pouncing upon
people as they entered and leading them up to the row of Professors and
Professors' wives backed against the wall. But now I had to stand up
myself and meet people. And oh, that was different!
At first two or three women would approach, putting out their hands at an
absurd height, and start to say: "How d' you--" or "I'm so--"
And Aunt would make some excited, half-coherent remark and look at me,
anxiously but proudly, and say my name.
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