human
So many common people go to Newport thinking they can buy their way in, Mrs. Radigan went on.
gpt
They rent great houses and they give balls, they entertain a German baron or a Hindoo prince, and nobody pays any attention to them. They disappear next year. Sometimes they are barred because there is a scandal in the family, like a divorce.
human
It is always better form not to seem ostentatious. That's what Mr. Lite told me, but I had a hard time driving it into John's head. John likes show. But I just put my foot down and said that now we were in, we must have a conservative spell, a quiet period, so people would get used to us. I have made up my mind to have one or two little things that will be very, _very_ exclusive. For instance, I have decided on a donkey-dinner, for one.
gpt
Who is to be asked?
human
Only the smartest people, she answered, stirring her tea meditatively.
gpt
But it's a splendid idea. I am so afraid it will get in the papers and make a dreadful stir all over the country. I intend to write to the editors particularly and ask them not to print it. The outsiders are always so horrid, anyway. They can do all kinds of foolish things and nobody ever says a word, but the minute _we_ have something a little original, we never hear the end of it. Why, I remember years ago, when we were Baptists, going to church sociables, and nothing could be more absurd than an apron-and-necktie party, but nothing was ever heard of them outside of the church itself. If we were Presbyterians, and lived on Lenox Avenue, no one would print anything about a beach-party we gave in our house on New Year's eve, or something foolish like that. But now, simply because we are Episcopalians and have a donkey-dinner in Newport, I know I shall be mentioned in sermons and prayers all over the country. It is dreadful!
human
But, Mrs. Radigan, said I,
gpt
But we never get any applause,
human
Because, said I,
gpt
But at Newport it will make a sensation, she cried, clasping her hands and smiling.
human
Oh, it will be perfectly dreadful!