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“Why, uh —— ”

“Go on. Or I'll make up worse things than anything you can tell me.”

“They did enjoy it. But I guess some of them felt you were showing off — pretending that your husband is richer than he is.”

“I can't —— Their meanness of mind is beyond any horrors I could imagine. They really thought that I —— And you want to 'reform' people like that when dynamite is so cheap? Who dared to say that? The rich or the poor?”

“Fairly well assorted.”

“Can't they at least understand me well enough to see that though I might be affected and culturine, at least I simply couldn't commit that other kind of vulgarity? If they must know, you may tell them, with my compliments, that Will makes about four thousand a year, and the party cost half of what they probably thought it did. Chinese things are not very expensive, and I made my own costume —— ”

“Stop it! Stop beating me! I know all that. What they meant was: they felt you were starting dangerous competition by giving a party such as most people here can't afford. Four thousand is a pretty big income for this town.”