III
Alexina had never enjoyed herself more than to-night. Young Mrs. Hofer, who
had bought and remodeled the old Polk house on Nob Hill--the very one in
which Mrs. Groome's oldest daughter had made her debut in the far-off
eighties--had turned all her immense rooms into a bower of every variety of
flower that bloomed on the rich California soil. It was her second great
party of the season, and it had been her avowed intention to outdo the
first, which had attempted a revival of Spanish California and been the
talk of the town. The decorations had been done by a firm of young women
whose parents and grandparents had danced in the old house, and the
catering by another scion of San Francisco's social founders, Miss Anne
Montgomery.
To do Mrs. Groome full justice, all of these enterprising young women were
welcome in her own home. She regarded it as unfortunate that ladies were
forced to work for their living, but had seen too many San Francisco
families in her own youth go down to ruin to feel more than sorrow. In
that era the wives of lost millionaires had knitted baby socks and starved
slowly. Even she was forced to admit that the newer generation was more
fortunate in its opportunities.
Alexina had not gone to Mrs. Hofer's first party, Aileen being in Santa
Barbara, but she had sniffed at the comparisons of the more critical girls
in their second season.
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