They were my
"compatriots."
I was introduced to them all, one after the other; but their names
did not abide in my memory one moment. I was thinking too much of
the singularity of the adventure, and could not attend to such
minutiae. That the red-rosed harpy was Miss Grogram, that I
remembered;--that, I may say, I shall never forget. But whether the
motherly lady with the somewhat blowsy hair was Mrs. Jones, or Mrs.
Green, or Mrs. Walker, I cannot now say. The dumpy female with the
broad back was always called Aunt Sally by the young ladies.
Too much sugar spoils one's tea; I think I have heard that even
prosperity will cloy when it comes in overdoses; and a schoolboy has
been known to be overdone with jam. I myself have always been
peculiarly attached to ladies' society, and have avoided bachelor
parties as things execrable in their very nature. But on this
special occasion I felt myself to be that schoolboy;--I was
literally overdone with jam. My tea was all sugar, so that I could
not drink it. I was one among twelve. What could I do or say? The
proportion of alloy was too small to have any effect in changing the
nature of the virgin silver, and the conversation became absolutely
feminine.
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