She had
hoped to find that their presence in Washington was known and
appreciated. It seemed to her, moreover, that they were not treated at
the hotel with the deference she had supposed would be accorded to them.
To be sure, equality was of the essence of American doctrine;
nevertheless she had anticipated that the official representatives of
the people would be made much of, and distinguished from the rest of the
world, if not by direct attention, by being pointed out and looked at
admiringly. Still, as Lyons showed no signs of disappointment, she
forbore to express her own perplexity, which was temporarily relieved by
an invitation from him to drive. The atmosphere was mild enough for an
open carriage, and Selma's appetite for processional effect derived some
crumbs of comfort from the process of showing herself in a barouche by
the side of her husband. They proceeded in an opposite direction from
the Capitol, and after surveying the outside of the White House, drove
along the avenues and circles occupied by private residences. Selma
noticed that these houses, though attractive, were less magnificent and
conspicuous than many of those in New York--more like her own in Benham;
and she pictured as their occupants the families of the public men of
the country--a society of their wives and daughters living worthily,
energetically, and with becoming stateliness, yet at the same time
rebuking by their example frivolity and rampant luxury.
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