Read Ebook: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Twain Mark

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Ebook has 55 lines and 2287 words, and 2 pages

"Quite right, quite right," said Briggs, cheerfully, but with the absent look still in his eyes.

Mrs. Burrell was a large woman with hair that had turned to a color approximating drab and giving a suggestion of thinness belied by the mass at the back. She had a sharp nose and gray eyes, none the less keen because they were faded with years and from wearing glasses. Her skin, which seemed to have been tightly drawn across her face, bagged heavily under the eyes and dropped at the corners of the disappointed and complaining mouth. Douglas Briggs suspected that at the time of her marriage she had been a typical New England old maid. If she had been more correct in her speech he would have marked her for a former school-teacher. As she talked it amused him to note the flashes of brightness in her eyes behind the black-rimmed glasses from which was suspended a gold chain, a touch of elegance which harmonized perfectly with the whole eccentric figure. Briggs felt sorry for her and he felt glad for her: she was enjoying Washington without realizing how much passing enjoyment she gave to the people she met.

"It was a mistake, their not receiving cards," Helen Briggs explained. "I know their names were on the list."

"Oh, those mistakes are always happening," Mrs. Burrell replied, greatly relieved now that she had got what she wanted. "Why, when we had our coming-out party for our oldest girl there was at least three families in Auburn that wouldn't look at me. How I happened to forget to invite 'em I couldn't understand, to save my life. But I didn't try to explain. It was no use. I just let it go."

Douglas Briggs sighed. Mrs. Burrell represented the type of woman before whom he had most difficulty in maintaining his air of confidential friendliness. For her husband, the shrewd old business man from Maine, who was serving his first term in Congress, he felt a genuine liking. His weariness at this moment prompted him to make one of his pleasant speeches. When most bored he always tried hardest to be agreeable. "There was no need of your asking for invitations for to-night," he said. "We hope you know us well enough to bring your daughters without invitations."

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