Hallett Taylor's. Rumors of various
undertakings, educational, semi-political, artistic, or philanthropic,
agitated or directed by this fringe of society, came to her ears from
time to time, but she heard them as an outsider. When she became the
Governor's wife she had said to herself that now these aristocrats would
be compelled to admit her to their counsels. But she found, to her
annoyance, that the election made no difference. Neither Pauline nor
Mrs. Taylor nor any of the coterie had asked her to join them, and she
was unpleasantly conscious that there were people on the River Drive who
showed no more desire to make her acquaintance than when she had been
Mrs. Lewis Babcock. What did this mean? It meant simply--she began to
argue--that she must hold fast to her faith and bide her time. That if
she and her friends kept a bold front and resisted the encroachments of
this pernicious spirit, Providence would interfere presently and
confound these enemies of social truth no less obviously than it had
already overwhelmed Mrs. Gregory Williams. As the wife of the Governor,
she was clearly in a position to maintain this bold front effectively.
Every mail brought to her requests for her support, and the sanction of
her signature to social or charitable enterprises.
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