The Woman with the Fan by Robert Hichens — Read

ON the following day, which was warm and damp; Lady Holme drove to Bond / Street, bought two new hats, had her hand read by a palmist who called / himself "Cupido," looked in at a ladies' club and then went to Mrs. / Wolfstein, with whom she was engaged to lunch. She did not wish to lunch / with her. She disliked Mrs. Wolfstein as she disliked most women, but / she had not been able to get out of it. Mrs. Wolfstein had overheard / her saying to Lady Cardington that she had nothing particular to do till / four that day, and had immediately "pinned her. " Besides disliking / Mrs. Wolfstein, Lady Holme was a little afraid of her. Like many clever / Jewesses, Mrs. Wolfstein was a ruthless conversationalist, and enjoyed / showing off at the expense of others, even when they were her guests. / She had sometimes made Lady Holme feel stupid, even feel as if a good / talker might occasionally gain, and keep, an advantage over a lovely / woman who did not talk so well. The sensation passed, but the fact that / it had ever been did not draw Lady Holme any closer to the woman with / the "pawnbroking expression" in her eyes.

Mrs. Wolfstein was not in the most exclusive set in London, but she was / in the smart set, which is no longer exclusive although it sometimes / hopes it is. She knew the racing people, nearly all the most fashionable / Jews, and those very numerous English patricians who like to go where / money is. She also knew the whole of Upper Bohemia, and was a _persona / gratissima_ in that happy land of talent and jealousy. She entertained / a great deal, generally at modish restaurants. Many French and Germans / were to be met with at her parties; and it was impossible to be with / either them or her for many minutes without hearing the most hearty and / whole-souled abuse of English aspirations, art, letters and cooking. / The respectability, the pictures, the books and the boiled cabbage of / Britain all came impartially under the lash.