It was
in vain, too, at supper, that she went from table to table, and helped
people to lobster salad and champagne, and had not enough chairs, and
generally imitated all that had apparently made Olga's party so supreme
a success. But on this occasion the recipe for the dish and not the
dish itself was served up, and the hunting of the slipper produced no
exhilaration in the chase....
But far more untoward events followed. Olga came back on the next
Monday, and immediately after Lucia received a card for an evening "At
Home," with "Music" in the bottom left-hand corner. It happened to be
wet that afternoon, and seeing Olga's shut motor coming from the
station with four men inside, she leaped to the conclusion that these
were four musicians for the music. A second motor followed with
luggage, and she quite distinctly saw the unmistakable shape of a
'cello against the window. After that no more guessing was necessary,
for it was clear that poor Olga had hired the awful string-quartet from
Brinton, that played in the lounge at the Royal Hotel after dinner. The
Brinton string-quartet! She had heard them once at a distance and that
was quite enough. Lucia shuddered as she thought of those doleful
fiddlers. It was indeed strange that Olga with all the opportunities
she had had for hearing good music, should hire the Brinton
string-quartet, but, after all, that was entirely of a piece with her
views about the gramophone.
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