But she still lingered
on, as she was likely to do, during a short engagement; and Mrs. Phillips
was now amiability itself to George and Amy both.
Her method of soothing Cope was to take him to the theatre and the opera in
town: he could scarcely come to the house. It was now late in January and
the opera season was near its end. People were tiring of their boxes, or
had started South: it had become almost a work of merit to fill a friend's
box for her. During the last week of the season, Mrs. Phillips was put in
position to do this. She invited Cope, and took along Hortense, and found
in the city itself a married pair who could get to the place and home again
without her help. Lemoyne would have made six, and the third man; but he
was not bidden. Why pack the box? A better effect was made by presenting,
negligently, one empty seat. Lemoyne dressed Cope, however. He had brought
to Churchton the outgrown evening clothes; and Cope, in his exuberance,
bought a new pair of light shoes and white gloves. He looked well as he sat
on the back seat of the limousine with Medora Phillips, during the long
drive in; and he looked well--strikingly, handsomely well--in the box
itself.
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