Souls Belated by Edith Wharton — Read

Lady Susan held her own. She ignored the Lintons, and her little family, / as Miss Pinsent phrased it, followed suit. Even Mrs. Ainger agreed that / it was obligatory. If Lady Susan owed it to the others not to speak to / the Lintons, the others clearly owed it to Lady Susan to back her up. It / was generally found expedient, at the Hotel Bellosguardo, to adopt this / form of reasoning.

Whatever effect this combined action may have had upon the Lintons, / it did not at least have that of driving them away. Monsieur Grossart, / after a few days of suspense, had the satisfaction of seeing them settle / down in his yellow damask _premier_ with what looked like a permanent / installation of palm-trees and silk sofa-cushions, and a gratifying / continuance in the consumption of champagne. Mrs. Linton trailed her / Doucet draperies up and down the garden with the same challenging air, / while her husband, smoking innumerable cigarettes, dragged himself / dejectedly in her wake; but neither of them, after the first encounter / with Lady Susan, made any attempt to extend their acquaintance. They / simply ignored their ignorers. As Miss Pinsent resentfully observed, / they behaved exactly as though the hotel were empty.