I remember this occasion vividly because it was my first introduction to that artificially enforced merriment which is the inevitable concomitant of smart gatherings in America.  The men invariably addressed each other as Old Man and the women as My Dear.  No one was mentioned except by his or her first name or by some intimate diminutive or abbreviation.  It seemed to be assumed that the guests were only interested in personal gossip relating to the marital infelicities of the neighboring countryside, who lost most at cards, and the theater.  Every remark relating to these absorbing subjects was given a feebly humorous twist and greeted with a burst of hilarity.  Even the mere suggestion of going upstairs to dress for dinner was a sufficient reason for an explosion of merriment.  If noise was an evidence of having a good time these people were having the time of their lives.  Personally I felt a little out of my element.  I had still a lingering disinclination to pretend to a ubiquity of social acquaintance that I did not really possess, and I had never learned to laugh in a properly boisterous manner.  But my wife appeared highly gratified.

Delay in sending to the depot for our trunks—­the fault of the butler, to whom we turned over our keys—­prevented, as we supposed, our getting ready in time for dinner.  Everybody else had gone up to dress; so we also went to our rooms, which consisted of two huge apartments connected by a bathroom of similar acreage.  The furniture was dainty and chintz-covered.  There was an abundance of writing paper, envelopes, magazines and French novels.  Superficially the arrangements were wholly charming.

The baggage arrived at about ten minutes to eight, after we had sat helplessly waiting for nearly an hour.  The rooms were plentifully supplied with buttons marked:  Maid; Valet; Butler’s Pantry—­and so on.  But, though we pressed these anxiously, there was no response.  I concluded that the valet was hunting or sleeping or otherwise occupied.  I unpacked my trunks without assistance; my wife unpacked hers.  But before I could find and assemble my evening garments I had to unwrap the contents of every tray and fill the room knee-high with tissue-paper.

Unable to secure any response to her repeated calls for the maid, my wife was nearly reduced to tears.  However, in those days I was not unskillful in hooking up a dress, and we managed to get downstairs, with ready apologies on our lips, by twenty minutes of nine.  We were the first ones down however.

The party assembled in a happy-go-lucky manner and, after the cocktails had been served, gathered round the festive board at five minutes past nine.  The dinner was the regulation heavy, expensive New York meal, eaten to the accompaniment of the same noisy mirth I have already described.  Afterward the host conducted the men to his “den,” a luxurious paneled library filled with rare prints, and we listened for an hour to the jokes and anecdotes