"We understand each other now," she added. "I have felt for some time
that we were no longer sympathetic; and that something of this kind was
inevitable. I am glad that we had the chance to speak plainly, for I was
able to show her that I had been waiting for an excuse to cut loose from
her and her frivolous surroundings. I have wearied my spirit long enough
with listening to social inanities, and in lowering my standards to hers
for the sake of appearing friendly and conventional. That is all over
now, thank heaven."
It did not occur to Selma that there was any inconsistency in these
observations, or that they might appear a partial vindication of her
husband's point of view. The most salient effect of her encounter with
Flossy had been suddenly to fuse and crystallize her mixed and seemingly
contradictory ambitions into utter hostility to conventional fashionable
society. Even when her heart had been hungering for an invitation to
Flossy's ball, she considered that she despised these people, but the
interview had served to establish her in the glowing faith that they, by
their inability to appreciate her, had shown themselves unworthy of
further consideration. The desire which she had experienced of late for
a renewal of her intimacy with Mrs.
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