{"id":4835,"date":"2025-11-17T02:17:21","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T02:17:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=4835"},"modified":"2025-11-17T02:17:21","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T02:17:21","slug":"xingu-by-edith-wharton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=4835","title":{"rendered":"Xingu by Edith Wharton"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Xingu by <a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/the-great-american-novel-quiz\">Edith Wharton<\/a> was published in 1916. Xingu is satire of a pretentious ladies lunch and literature group set in the early 1900\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p><em>This post may contain affiliate links that earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Xingu by Edith Wharton<\/h2>\n<div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"__youtube_prefs__ epyt-facade no-lazyload\"><button class=\"epyt-facade-play\"><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Xingu by Edith Wharton<\/h3>\n<p>I<br \/>Mrs. Ballinger is one of the ladies who pursue Culture in bands, as though it were dangerous to meet alone. To this end she had founded the Lunch Club, an association composed of herself and several other indomitable huntresses of erudition. The Lunch Club, after three or four winters of lunching and debate, had acquired such local distinction that the entertainment of distinguished strangers became one of its accepted functions; in recognition of which it duly extended to the celebrated \u201cOsric Dane,\u201d on the day of her arrival in Hillbridge, an invitation to be present at the next meeting.<\/p>\n<p>The club was to meet at Mrs. Bellinger\u2019s. The other members, behind her back, were of one voice in deploring her unwillingness to cede her rights in favor of Mrs. Plinth, whose house made a more impressive setting for the entertainment of celebrities; while, as Mrs. Leveret observed, there was always the picture-gallery to fall back on.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Plinth made no secret of sharing this view. She had always regarded it as one of her obligations to entertain the Lunch Club\u2019s distinguished guests. Mrs. Plinth was almost as proud of her obligations as she was of her picture-gallery; she was in fact fond of implying that the one possession implied the other, and that only a woman of her wealth could afford to live up to a standard as high as that which she had set herself. An all-round sense of duty, roughly adaptable to various ends, was, in her opinion, all that Providence exacted of the more humbly stationed; but the power which had predestined Mrs. Plinth to keep a footman clearly intended her to maintain an equally specialized staff of responsibilities. It was the more to be regretted that Mrs. Ballinger, whose obligations to society were bounded by the narrow scope of two parlour-maids, should have been so tenacious of the right to entertain Osric Dane.<\/p>\n<p>The question of that lady\u2019s reception had for a month past profoundly moved the members of the Lunch Club. It was not that they felt themselves unequal to the task, but that their sense of the opportunity plunged them into the agreeable uncertainty of the lady who weighs the alternatives of a well-stocked wardrobe. If such subsidiary members as Mrs. Leveret were fluttered by the thought of exchanging ideas with the author of \u201cThe Wings of Death,\u201d no forebodings disturbed the conscious adequacy of Mrs. Plinth, Mrs. Ballinger and Miss Van Vluyck. \u201cThe Wings of Death\u201d had, in fact, at Miss Van Vluyck\u2019s suggestion, been chosen as the subject of discussion at the last club meeting, and each member had thus been enabled to express her own opinion or to appropriate whatever sounded well in the comments of the others.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Roby alone had abstained from profiting by the opportunity; but it was now openly recognised that, as a member of the Lunch Club, Mrs. Roby was a failure. \u201cIt all comes,\u201d as Miss Van Vluyck put it, \u201cof accepting a woman on a man\u2019s estimation.\u201d Mrs. Roby, returning to Hillbridge from a prolonged sojourn in exotic lands\u2014the other ladies no longer took the trouble to remember where\u2014had been heralded by the distinguished biologist, Professor Foreland, as the most agreeable woman he had ever met; and the members of the Lunch Club, impressed by an encomium that carried the weight of a diploma, and rashly assuming that the Professor\u2019s social sympathies would follow the line of his professional bent, had seized the chance of annexing a biological member. Their disillusionment was complete. At Miss Van Vluyck\u2019s first off-hand mention of the pterodactyl Mrs. Roby had confusedly murmured: \u201cI know so little about metres\u2014\u201d and after that painful betrayal of incompetence she had prudently withdrawn from farther participation in the mental gymnastics of the club.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI suppose she flattered him,\u201d Miss Van Vluyck summed up\u2014\u201cor else it\u2019s the way she does her hair.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The dimensions of Miss Van Vluyck\u2019s dining-room having restricted the membership of the club to six, the nonconductiveness of one member was a serious obstacle to the exchange of ideas, and some wonder had already been expressed that Mrs. Roby should care to live, as it were, on the intellectual bounty of the others. This feeling was increased by the discovery that she had not yet read \u201cThe Wings of Death.\u201d She owned to having heard the name of Osric Dane; but that\u2014incredible as it appeared\u2014was the extent of her acquaintance with the celebrated novelist. The ladies could not conceal their surprise; but Mrs. Ballinger, whose pride in the club made her wish to put even Mrs. Roby in the best possible light, gently insinuated that, though she had not had time to acquaint herself with \u201cThe Wings of Death,\u201d she must at least be familiar with its equally remarkable predecessor, \u201cThe Supreme Instant.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Roby wrinkled her sunny brows in a conscientious effort of memory, as a result of which she recalled that, oh, yes, she had seen the book at her brother\u2019s, when she was staying with him in Brazil, and had even carried it off to read one day on a boating party; but they had all got to shying things at each other in the boat, and the book had gone overboard, so she had never had the chance\u2014<\/p>\n<p>The picture evoked by this anecdote did not increase Mrs. Roby\u2019s credit with the club, and there was a painful pause, which was broken by Mrs. Plinth\u2019s remarking:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can understand that, with all your other pursuits, you should not find much time for reading; but I should have thought you might at least have got up \u2018The Wings of Death\u2019 before Osric Dane\u2019s arrival.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Roby took this rebuke good-humouredly. She had meant, she owned, to glance through the book; but she had been so absorbed in a novel of Trollope\u2019s that\u2014<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo one reads Trollope now,\u201d Mrs. Ballinger interrupted.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Roby looked pained. \u201cI\u2019m only just beginning,\u201d she confessed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd does he interest you?\u201d Mrs. Plinth enquired.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe amuses me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmusement,\u201d said Mrs. Plinth, \u201cis hardly what I look for in my choice of books.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, certainly, \u2018The Wings of Death\u2019 is not amusing,\u201d ventured Mrs. Leveret, whose manner of putting forth an opinion was like that of an obliging salesman with a variety of other styles to submit if his first selection does not suit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWas it meant to be?\u201d enquired Mrs. Plinth, who was fond of asking questions that she permitted no one but herself to answer. \u201cAssuredly not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAssuredly not\u2014that is what I was going to say,\u201d assented Mrs. Leveret, hastily rolling up her opinion and reaching for another. \u201cIt was meant to\u2014to elevate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Miss Van Vluyck adjusted her spectacles as though they were the black cap of condemnation. \u201cI hardly see,\u201d she interposed, \u201chow a book steeped in the bitterest pessimism can be said to elevate however much it may instruct.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI meant, of course, to instruct,\u201d said Mrs. Leveret, flurried by the unexpected distinction between two terms which she had supposed to be synonymous. Mrs. Leveret\u2019s enjoyment of the Lunch Club was frequently marred by such surprises; and not knowing her own value to the other ladies as a mirror for their mental complacency she was sometimes troubled by a doubt of her worthiness to join in their debates. It was only the fact of having a dull sister who thought her clever that saved her, from a sense of hopeless inferiority.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo they get married in the end?\u201d Mrs. Roby interposed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2014who?\u201d the Lunch Club collectively exclaimed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy, the girl and man. It\u2019s a novel, isn\u2019t it? I always think that\u2019s the one thing that matters. If they\u2019re parted it spoils my dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Plinth and Mrs. Ballinger exchanged scandalised glances, and the latter said: \u201cI should hardly advise you to read \u2018The Wings of Death\u2019 in that spirit. For my part, when there are so many books one has to read; I wonder how any one can find time for those that are merely amusing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe beautiful part of it,\u201d Laura Glyde murmured, \u201cis surely just this\u2014that no one can tell how \u2018The Wings of Death\u2019 ends. Osric Dane, overcome by the awful significance of her own meaning, has mercifully veiled it\u2014perhaps even from herself\u2014as Apelles, in representing the sacrifice of Iphigenia, veiled the face of Agamemnon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s that? Is it poetry?\u201d whispered Mrs. Leveret to Mrs. Plinth, who, disdaining a definite reply, said coldly: \u201cYou should look it up. I always make it a point to look things up.\u201d Her tone added\u2014\u201cthough I might easily have it done for me by the footman.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was about to say,\u201d Miss Van Vluyck resumed, \u201cthat it must always be a question whether a book can instruct unless it elevates.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh\u2014\u201d murmured Mrs. Leveret, now feeling herself hopelessly astray.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d said Mrs. Ballinger, scenting in Miss Van Vluyck\u2019s tone a tendency to depreciate the coveted distinction of entertaining Osric Dane; \u201cI don\u2019t know that such a question can seriously be raised as to a book which has attracted more attention among thoughtful people than any novel since \u2018Robert Elsmere.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, but don\u2019t you see,\u201d exclaimed Laura Glyde, \u201cthat it\u2019s just the dark hopelessness of it all\u2014the wonderful tone-scheme of black on black\u2014that makes it such an artistic achievement? It reminded me when I read it of Prince Rupert\u2019s mani\u00e8re noire\u2026the book is etched, not painted, yet one feels the colour-values so intensely\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho is he?\u201d Mrs. Leveret whispered to her neighbour. \u201cSome one she\u2019s met abroad?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe wonderful part of the book,\u201d Mrs. Bellinger conceded, \u201cis that it may be looked at from so many points of view. I hear that as a study of determinism Professor Lupton ranks it with \u2018The Data of Ethics.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m told that Osric Dane spent ten years in preparatory studies before beginning to write it,\u201d said Mrs. Plinth. \u201cShe looks up everything\u2014verifies everything. It has always been my principle, as you know. Nothing would induce me, now, to put aside a book before I\u2019d finished it, just because I can buy as many more as I want.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd what do you think of \u2018The Wings of Death\u2019?\u201d Mrs. Roby abruptly asked her.<\/p>\n<p>It was the kind of question that might be termed out of order, and the ladies glanced at each other as though disclaiming any share in such a breach of discipline. They all knew there was nothing Mrs. Plinth so much disliked as being asked her opinion of a book. Books were written to read; if one read them what more could be expected? To be questioned in detail regarding the contents of a volume seemed to her as great an outrage as being searched for smuggled laces at the Custom House. The club had always respected this idiosyncrasy of Mrs. Plinth\u2019s. Such opinions as she had were imposing and substantial: her mind, like her house, was furnished with monumental \u201cpieces\u201d that were not meant to be disarranged; and it was one of the unwritten rules of the Lunch Club that, within her own province, each member\u2019s habits of thought should be respected. The meeting therefore closed with an increased sense, on the part of the other ladies, of Mrs. Roby\u2019s hopeless unfitness to be one of them.<\/p>\n<p>II<br \/>Mrs. Leveret, on the eventful day, arrived early at Mrs. Ballinger\u2019s, her volume of Appropriate Allusions in her pocket.<\/p>\n<p>It always flustered Mrs. Leveret to be late at the Lunch Club: she liked to collect her thoughts and gather a hint, as the others assembled, of the turn the conversation was likely to take. To-day, however, she felt herself completely at a loss; and even the familiar contact of Appropriate Allusions, which stuck into her as she sat down, failed to give her any reassurance. It was an admirable little volume, compiled to meet all the social emergencies; so that, whether on the occasion of Anniversaries, joyful or melancholy (as the classification ran), of Banquets, social or municipal, or of Baptisms, Church of England or sectarian, its student need never be at a loss for a pertinent reference. Mrs. Leveret, though she had for years devoutly conned its pages, valued it, however, rather for its moral support than for its practical services; for though in the privacy of her own room she commanded an army of quotations, these invariably deserted her at the critical moment, and the only phrase she retained\u2014Canst thou draw out leviathan with a hook?\u2014was one she had never yet found occasion to apply.<\/p>\n<p>To-day she felt that even the complete mastery of the volume would hardly have insured her self-possession; for she thought it probable that, even if she did, in some miraculous way, remember an Allusion, it would be only to find that Osric Dane used a different volume (Mrs. Leveret was convinced that literary people always carried them), and would consequently not recognise her quotations.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Leveret\u2019s sense of being adrift was intensified by the appearance of Mrs. Ballinger\u2019s drawing-room. To a careless eye its aspect was unchanged; but those acquainted with Mrs. Ballinger\u2019s way of arranging her books would instantly have detected the marks of recent perturbation. Mrs. Ballinger\u2019s province, as a member of the Lunch Club, was the Book of the Day. On that, whatever it was, from a novel to a treatise on experimental psychology, she was confidently, authoritatively \u201cup.\u201d What became of last year\u2019s books, or last week\u2019s even; what she did with the \u201csubjects\u201d she had previously professed with equal authority; no one had ever yet discovered. \u2018Her mind was an hotel where facts came and went like transient lodgers, without leaving their address behind, and frequently without paying for their board. It was Mrs. Ballinger\u2019s boast that she was \u201cabreast with the Thought of the Day,\u201d and her pride that this advanced position should be expressed by the books on her table. These volumes, frequently renewed, and almost always damp from the press, bore names generally unfamiliar to Mrs. Leveret, and giving her, as she furtively scanned them, a disheartening glimpse of new fields of knowledge to be breathlessly traversed in Mrs. Ballinger\u2019s wake. But to-day a number of maturer-looking volumes were adroitly mingled with the primeurs of the press\u2014Karl Marx jostled Professor Bergson, and the \u201cConfessions of St. Augustine\u201d lay beside the last work on \u201cMendelism\u201d; so that even to Mrs. Leveret\u2019s fluttered perceptions it was clear that Mrs. Ballinger didn\u2019t in the least know what Osric Dane was likely to talk about, and had taken measures to be prepared for anything. Mrs. Leveret felt like a passenger on an ocean steamer who is told that there is no immediate danger, but that she had better put on her life-belt.<\/p>\n<p>It was a relief to be roused from these forebodings by Miss Van Vluyck\u2019s arrival.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, my dear,\u201d the new-comer briskly asked her hostess, \u201cwhat subjects are we to discuss to-day?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Ballinger was furtively replacing a volume of Wordsworth by a copy of Verlaine. \u201cI hardly know,\u201d she said, somewhat nervously. \u201cPerhaps we had better leave that to circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCircumstances?\u201d said Miss Van Vluyck drily. \u201cThat means, I suppose, that Laura Glyde will take the floor as usual, and we shall be deluged with literature.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Philanthropy and statistics were Miss Van Vluyck\u2019s province, and she resented any tendency to divert their guest\u2019s attention from these topics.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Plinth at this moment appeared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLiterature?\u201d she protested in a tone of remonstrance. \u201cBut this is perfectly unexpected. I understood we were to talk of Osric Dane\u2019s novel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Ballinger winced at the discrimination, but let it pass. \u201cWe can hardly make that our chief subject\u2014at least not too intentionally,\u201d she suggested. \u201cOf course we can let our talk drift in that direction; but we ought to have some other topic as an introduction, and that is what I wanted to consult you about. The fact is, we know so little of Osric Dane\u2019s tastes and interests that it is difficult to make any special preparation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt may be difficult,\u201d said Mrs. Plinth with decision, \u201cbut it is necessary. I know what that happy-go-lucky principle leads to. As I told one of my nieces the other day, there are certain emergencies for which a lady should always be prepared. It\u2019s in shocking taste to wear colours when one pays a visit of condolence, or a last year\u2019s dress when there are reports that one\u2019s husband is on the wrong side of the market; and so it is with conversation. All I ask is that I should know beforehand what is to be talked about; then I feel sure of being able to say the proper thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI quite agree with you,\u201d Mrs. Ballinger assented; \u201cbut\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And at that instant, heralded by the fluttered parlourmaid, Osric Dane appeared upon the threshold.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Leveret told her sister afterward that she had known at a glance what was coming. She saw that Osric Dane was not going to meet them half way. That distinguished personage had indeed entered with an air of compulsion not calculated to promote the easy exercise of hospitality. She looked as though she were about to be photographed for a new edition of her books.<\/p>\n<p>The desire to propitiate a divinity is generally in inverse ratio to its responsiveness, and the sense of discouragement produced by Osric Dane\u2019s entrance visibly increased the Lunch Club\u2019s eagerness to please her. Any lingering idea that she might consider herself under an obligation to her entertainers was at once dispelled by her manner: as Mrs. Leveret said afterward to her sister, she had a way of looking at you that made you feel as if there was something wrong with your hat. This evidence of greatness produced such an immediate impression on the ladies that a shudder of awe ran through them when Mrs. Roby, as their hostess led the great personage into the dining-room, turned back to whisper to the others: \u201cWhat a brute she is!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The hour about the table did not tend to revise this verdict. It was passed by Osric Dane in the silent deglutition of Mrs. Bollinger\u2019s menu, and by the members of the club in the emission of tentative platitudes which their guest seemed to swallow as perfunctorily as the successive courses of the luncheon.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Ballinger\u2019s reluctance to fix a topic had thrown the club into a mental disarray which increased with the return to the drawing-room, where the actual business of discussion was to open. Each lady waited for the other to speak; and there was a general shock of disappointment when their hostess opened the conversation by the painfully commonplace enquiry. \u201cIs this your first visit to Hillbridge?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even Mrs. Leveret was conscious that this was a bad beginning; and a vague impulse of deprecation made Miss Glyde interject: \u201cIt is a very small place indeed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Plinth bristled. \u201cWe have a great many representative people,\u201d she said, in the tone of one who speaks for her order.<\/p>\n<p>Osric Dane turned to her. \u201cWhat do they represent?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Plinth\u2019s constitutional dislike to being questioned was intensified by her sense of unpreparedness; and her reproachful glance passed the question on to Mrs. Ballinger.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy,\u201d said that lady, glancing in turn at the other members, \u201cas a community I hope it is not too much to say that we stand for culture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor art\u2014\u201d Miss Glyde interjected.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor art and literature,\u201d Mrs. Ballinger emended.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd for sociology, I trust,\u201d snapped Miss Van Vluyck.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a standard,\u201d said Mrs. Plinth, feeling herself suddenly secure on the vast expanse of a generalisation; and Mrs. Leveret, thinking there must be room for more than one on so broad a statement, took courage to murmur: \u201cOh, certainly; we have a standard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe object of our little club,\u201d Mrs. Ballinger continued, \u201cis to concentrate the highest tendencies of Hillbridge\u2014to centralise and focus its intellectual effort.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This was felt to be so happy that the ladies drew an almost audible breath of relief.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe aspire,\u201d the President went on, \u201cto be in touch with whatever is highest in art, literature and ethics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Osric Dane again turned to her. \u201cWhat ethics?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n<p>A tremor of apprehension encircled the room. None of the ladies required any preparation to pronounce on a question of morals; but when they were called ethics it was different. The club, when fresh from the \u201cEncyclopaedia Britannica,\u201d the \u201cReader\u2019s Handbook\u201d or Smith\u2019s \u201cClassical Dictionary,\u201d could deal confidently with any subject; but when taken unawares it had been known to define agnosticism as a heresy of the Early Church and Professor Froude as a distinguished histologist; and such minor members as Mrs. Leveret still secretly regarded ethics as something vaguely pagan.<\/p>\n<p>Even to Mrs. Ballinger, Osric Dane\u2019s question was unsettling, and there was a general sense of gratitude when Laura Glyde leaned forward to say, with her most sympathetic accent: \u201cYou must excuse us, Mrs. Dane, for not being able, just at present, to talk of anything but \u2018The Wings of Death.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes,\u201d said Miss Van Vluyck, with a sudden resolve to carry the war into the enemy\u2019s camp. \u201cWe are so anxious to know the exact purpose you had in mind in writing your wonderful book.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou will find,\u201d Mrs. Plinth interposed, \u201cthat we are not superficial readers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are eager to hear from you,\u201d Miss Van Vluyck continued, \u201cif the pessimistic tendency of the book is an expression of your own convictions or\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOr merely,\u201d Miss Glyde thrust in, \u201ca sombre background brushed in to throw your figures into more vivid relief. Are you not primarily plastic?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have always maintained,\u201d Mrs. Ballinger interposed, \u201cthat you represent the purely objective method\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Osric Dane helped herself critically to coffee. \u201cHow do you define objective?\u201d she then enquired.<\/p>\n<p>There was a flurried pause before Laura Glyde intensely murmured: \u201cIn reading you we don\u2019t define, we feel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Otsric Dane smiled. \u201cThe cerebellum,\u201d she remarked, \u201cis not infrequently the seat of the literary emotions.\u201d And she took a second lump of sugar.<\/p>\n<p>The sting that this remark was vaguely felt to conceal was almost neutralised by the satisfaction of being addressed in such technical language.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAh, the cerebellum,\u201d said Miss Van Vluyck complacently. \u201cThe club took a course in psychology last winter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhich psychology?\u201d asked Osric Dane.<\/p>\n<p>There was an agonising pause, during which each member of the club secretly deplored the distressing inefficiency of the others. Only Mrs. Roby went on placidly sipping her chartreuse. At last Mrs. Ballinger said, with an attempt at a high tone: \u201cWell, really, you know, it was last year that we took psychology, and this winter we have been so absorbed in\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She broke off, nervously trying to recall some of the club\u2019s discussions; but her faculties seemed to be paralysed by the petrifying stare of Osric Dane. What had the club been absorbed in? Mrs. Ballinger, with a vague purpose of gaining time, repeated slowly: \u201cWe\u2019ve been so intensely absorbed in\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Roby put down her liqueur glass and drew near the group with a smile.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Xingu?\u201d she gently prompted.<\/p>\n<p>A thrill ran through the other members. They exchanged confused glances, and then, with one accord, turned a gaze of mingled relief and interrogation on their rescuer. The expression of each denoted a different phase of the same emotion. Mrs. Plinth was the first to compose her features to an air of reassurance: after a moment\u2019s hasty adjustment her look almost implied that it was she who had given the word to Mrs. Ballinger.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cXingu, of course!\u201d exclaimed the latter with her accustomed promptness, while Miss Van Vluyck and Laura Glyde seemed to be plumbing the depths of memory, and Mrs. Leveret, feeling apprehensively for Appropriate Allusions, was somehow reassured by the uncomfortable pressure of its bulk against her person.<\/p>\n<p>Osric Dane\u2019s change of countenance was no less striking than that of her entertainers. She too put down her coffee-cup, but with a look of distinct annoyance; she too wore, for a brief moment, what Mrs. Roby afterward described as the look of feeling for something in the back of her head; and before she could dissemble these momentary signs of weakness, Mrs. Roby, turning to her with a deferential smile, had said: \u201cAnd we\u2019ve been so hoping that to-day you would tell us just what you think of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Osric Dane received the homage of the smile as a matter of course; but the accompanying question obviously embarrassed her, and it became clear to her observers that she was not quick at shifting her facial scenery. It was as though her countenance had so long been set in an expression of unchallenged superiority that the muscles had stiffened, and refused to obey her orders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cXingu\u2014\u201d she said, as if seeking in her turn to gain time.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Roby continued to press her. \u201cKnowing how engrossing the subject is, you will understand how it happens that the club has let everything else go to the wall for the moment. Since we took up Xingu I might almost say\u2014were it not for your books\u2014that nothing else seems to us worth remembering.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Osric Dane\u2019s stern features were darkened rather than lit up by an uneasy smile. \u201cI am glad to hear that you make one exception,\u201d she gave out between narrowed lips.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, of course,\u201d Mrs. Roby said prettily; \u201cbut as you have shown us that\u2014so very naturally!\u2014you don\u2019t care to talk of your own things, we really can\u2019t let you off from telling us exactly what you think about Xingu; especially,\u201d she added, with a still more persuasive smile, \u201cas some people say that one of your last books was saturated with it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was an it, then\u2014the assurance sped like fire through the parched minds of the other members. In their eagerness to gain the least little clue to Xingu they almost forgot the joy of assisting at the discomfiture of Mrs. Dane.<\/p>\n<p>The latter reddened nervously under her antagonist\u2019s challenge. \u201cMay I ask,\u201d she faltered out, \u201cto which of my books you refer?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Roby did not falter. \u201cThat\u2019s just what I want you to tell us; because, though I was present, I didn\u2019t actually take part.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPresent at what?\u201d Mrs. Dane took her up; and for an instant the trembling members of the Lunch Club thought that the champion Providence had raised up for them had lost a point. But Mrs. Roby explained herself gaily: \u201cAt the discussion, of course. And so we\u2019re dreadfully anxious to know just how it was that you went into the Xingu.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There was a portentous pause, a silence so big with incalculable dangers that the members with one accord checked the words on their lips, like soldiers dropping their arms to watch a single combat between their leaders. Then Mrs. Dane gave expression to their inmost dread by saying sharply: \u201cAh\u2014you say the Xingu, do you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Roby smiled undauntedly. \u201cIt is a shade pedantic, isn\u2019t it? Personally, I always drop the article; but I don\u2019t know how the other members feel about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The other members looked as though they would willingly have dispensed with this appeal to their opinion, and Mrs. Roby, after a bright glance about the group, went on: \u201cThey probably think, as I do, that nothing really matters except the thing itself\u2014except Xingu.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No immediate reply seemed to occur to Mrs. Dane, and Mrs. Ballinger gathered courage to say: \u201cSurely every one must feel that about Xingu.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Plinth came to her support with a heavy murmur of assent, and Laura Glyde sighed out emotionally: \u201cI have known cases where it has changed a whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt has done me worlds of good,\u201d Mrs. Leveret interjected, seeming to herself to remember that she had either taken it or read it the winter before.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf course,\u201d Mrs. Roby admitted, \u201cthe difficulty is that one must give up so much time to it. It\u2019s very long.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t imagine,\u201d said Miss Van Vluyck, \u201cgrudging the time given to such a subject.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd deep in places,\u201d Mrs. Roby pursued; (so then it was a book!) \u201cAnd it isn\u2019t easy to skip.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never skip,\u201d said Mrs. Plinth dogmatically.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAh, it\u2019s dangerous to, in Xingu. Even at the start there are places where one can\u2019t. One must just wade through.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI should hardly call it wading,\u201d said Mrs. Ballinger sarcastically.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Roby sent her a look of interest. \u201cAh\u2014you always found it went swimmingly?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Ballinger hesitated. \u201cOf course there are difficult passages,\u201d she conceded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes; some are not at all clear\u2014even,\u201d Mrs. Roby added, \u201cif one is familiar with the original.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs I suppose you are?\u201d Osric Dane interposed, suddenly fixing her with a look of challenge.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Roby met it by a deprecating gesture. \u201cOh, it\u2019s really not difficult up to a certain point; though some of the branches are very little known, and it\u2019s almost impossible to get at the source.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHave you ever tried?\u201d Mrs. Plinth enquired, still distrustful of Mrs. Roby\u2019s thoroughness.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Roby was silent for a moment; then she replied with lowered lids: \u201cNo\u2014but a friend of mine did; a very brilliant man; and he told me it was best for women\u2014not to\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A shudder ran around the room. Mrs. Leveret coughed so that the parlour-maid, who was handing the cigarettes, should not hear; Miss Van Vluyck\u2019s face took on a nauseated expression, and Mrs. Plinth looked as if she were passing some one she did not care to bow to. But the most remarkable result of Mrs. Roby\u2019s words was the effect they produced on the Lunch Club\u2019s distinguished guest. Osric Dane\u2019s impassive features suddenly softened to an expression of the warmest human sympathy, and edging her chair toward Mrs. Roby\u2019s she asked: \u201cDid he really? And\u2014did you find he was right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Ballinger, in whom annoyance at Mrs. Roby\u2019s unwonted assumption of prominence was beginning to displace gratitude for the aid she had rendered, could not consent to her being allowed, by such dubious means, to monopolise the attention of their guest. If Osric Dane had not enough self-respect to resent Mrs. Roby\u2019s flippancy, at least the Lunch Club would do so in the person of its President.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Ballinger laid her hand on Mrs. Roby\u2019s arm. \u201cWe must not forget,\u201d she said with a frigid amiability, \u201cthat absorbing as Xingu is to us, it may be less interesting to\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, no, on the contrary, I assure you,\u201d Osric Dane intervened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2014to others,\u201d Mrs. Ballinger finished firmly; \u201cand we must not allow our little meeting to end without persuading Mrs. Dane to say a few words to us on a subject which, to-day, is much more present in all our thoughts. I refer, of course, to \u2018The Wings of Death.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The other members, animated by various degrees of the same sentiment, and encouraged by the humanised mien of their redoubtable guest, repeated after Mrs. Ballinger: \u201cOh, yes, you really must talk to us a little about your book.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Osric Dane\u2019s expression became as bored, though not as haughty, as when her work had been previously mentioned. But before she could respond to Mrs. Ballinger\u2019s request, Mrs. Roby had risen from her seat, and was pulling down her veil over her frivolous nose.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m so sorry,\u201d she said, advancing toward her hostess with outstretched hand, \u201cbut before Mrs. Dane begins I think I\u2019d better run away. Unluckily, as you know, I haven\u2019t read her books, so I should be at a terrible disadvantage among you all, and besides, I\u2019ve an engagement to play bridge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If Mrs. Roby had simply pleaded her ignorance of Osric Dane\u2019s works as a reason for withdrawing, the Lunch Club, in view of her recent prowess, might have approved such evidence of discretion; but to couple this excuse with the brazen announcement that she was foregoing the privilege for the purpose of joining a bridge-party was only one more instance of her deplorable lack of discrimination.<\/p>\n<p>The ladies were disposed, however, to feel that her departure\u2014now that she had performed the sole service she was ever likely to render them\u2014would probably make for greater order and dignity in the impending discussion, besides relieving them of the sense of self-distrust which her presence always mysteriously produced. Mrs. Ballinger therefore restricted herself to a formal murmur of regret, and the other members were just grouping themselves comfortably about Osric Dane when the latter, to their dismay, started up from the sofa on which she had been seated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh wait\u2014do wait, and I\u2019ll go with you!\u201d she called out to Mrs. Roby; and, seizing the hands of the disconcerted members, she administered a series of farewell pressures with the mechanical haste of a railway-conductor punching tickets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m so sorry\u2014I\u2019d quite forgotten\u2014\u201d she flung back at them from the threshold; and as she joined Mrs. Roby, who had turned in surprise at her appeal, the other ladies had the mortification of hearing her say, in a voice which she did not take the pains to lower: \u201cIf you\u2019ll let me walk a little way with you, I should so like to ask you a few more questions about Xingu\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>III<br \/>The incident had been so rapid that the door closed on the departing pair before the other members had time to understand what was happening. Then a sense of the indignity put upon them by Osric Dane\u2019s unceremonious desertion began to contend with the confused feeling that they had been cheated out of their due without exactly knowing how or why.<\/p>\n<p>There was a silence, during which Mrs. Ballinger, with a perfunctory hand, rearranged the skilfully grouped literature at which her distinguished guest had not so much as glanced; then Miss Van Vluyck tartly pronounced: \u201cWell, I can\u2019t say that I consider Osric Dane\u2019s departure a great loss.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This confession crystallised the resentment of the other members, and Mrs. Leveret exclaimed: \u201cI do believe she came on purpose to be nasty!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was Mrs. Plinth\u2019s private opinion that Osric Dane\u2019s attitude toward the Lunch Club might have been very different had it welcomed her in the majestic setting of the Plinth drawing-rooms; but not liking to reflect on the inadequacy of Mrs. Ballinger\u2019s establishment she sought a roundabout satisfaction in depreciating her lack of foresight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI said from the first that we ought to have had a subject ready. It\u2019s what always happens when you\u2019re unprepared. Now if we\u2019d only got up Xingu\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The slowness of Mrs. Plinth\u2019s mental processes was always allowed for by the club; but this instance of it was too much for Mrs. Ballinger\u2019s equanimity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cXingu!\u201d she scoffed. \u201cWhy, it was the fact of our knowing so much more about it than she did\u2014unprepared though we were\u2014that made Osric Dane so furious. I should have thought that was plain enough to everybody!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This retort impressed even Mrs. Plinth, and Laura Glyde, moved by an impulse of generosity, said: \u201cYes, we really ought to be grateful to Mrs. Roby for introducing the topic. It may have made Osric Dane furious, but at least it made her civil.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am glad we were able to show her,\u201d added Miss Van Vluyck, \u201cthat a broad and up-to-date culture is not confined to the great intellectual centres.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This increased the satisfaction of the other members, and they began to forget their wrath against Osric Dane in the pleasure of having contributed to her discomfiture.<\/p>\n<p>Miss Van Vluyck thoughtfully rubbed her spectacles. \u201cWhat surprised me most,\u201d she continued, \u201cwas that Fanny Roby should be so up on Xingu.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This remark threw a slight chill on the company, but Mrs. Ballinger said with an air of indulgent irony: \u201cMrs. Roby always has the knack of making a little go a long way; still, we certainly owe her a debt for happening to remember that she\u2019d heard of Xingu.\u201d And this was felt by the other members to be a graceful way of cancelling once for all the club\u2019s obligation to Mrs. Roby.<\/p>\n<p>Even Mrs. Leveret took courage to speed a timid shaft of irony. \u201cI fancy Osric Dane hardly expected to take a lesson in Xingu at Hillbridge!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Ballinger smiled. \u201cWhen she asked me what we represented\u2014do you remember?\u2014I wish I\u2019d simply said we represented Xingu!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>All the ladies laughed appreciatively at this sally, except Mrs. Plinth, who said, after a moment\u2019s deliberation: \u201cI\u2019m not sure it would have been wise to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Ballinger, who was already beginning to feel as if she had launched at Osric Dane the retort which had just occurred to her, turned ironically on Mrs. Plinth. \u201cMay I ask why?\u201d she enquired.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Plinth looked grave. \u201cSurely,\u201d she said, \u201cI understood from Mrs. Roby herself that the subject was one it was as well not to go into too deeply?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Miss Van Vluyck rejoined with precision: \u201cI think that applied only to an investigation of the origin of the\u2014of the\u2014\u201c; and suddenly she found that her usually accurate memory had failed her. \u201cIt\u2019s a part of the subject I never studied myself\/,\u201d she concluded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNor I,\u201d said Mrs. Ballinger.<\/p>\n<p>Laura Glyde bent toward them with widened eyes. \u201cAnd yet it seems\u2014doesn\u2019t it?\u2014the part that is fullest of an esoteric fascination?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know on what you base that,\u201d said Miss Van Vluyck argumentatively.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, didn\u2019t you notice how intensely interested Osric Dane became as soon as she heard what the brilliant foreigner\u2014he was a foreigner, wasn\u2019t he?\u2014had told Mrs. Roby about the origin\u2014the origin of the rite\u2014or whatever you call it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Plinth looked disapproving, and Mrs. Ballinger visibly wavered. Then she said: \u201cIt may not be desirable to touch on the\u2014on that part of the subject in general conversation; but, from the importance it evidently has to a woman of Osric Dane\u2019s distinction, I feel as if we ought not to be afraid to discuss it among ourselves\u2014without gloves\u2014though with closed doors, if necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m quite of your opinion,\u201d Miss Van Vluyck came briskly to her support; \u201con condition, that is, that all grossness of language is avoided.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, I\u2019m sure we shall understand without that,\u201d Mrs. Leveret tittered; and Laura Glyde added significantly: \u201cI fancy we can read between the lines,\u201d while Mrs. Ballinger rose to assure herself that the doors were really closed.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Plinth had not yet given her adhesion. \u201cI hardly see,\u201d she began, \u201cwhat benefit is to be derived from investigating such peculiar customs\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Mrs. Ballinger\u2019s patience had reached the extreme limit of tension. \u201cThis at least,\u201d she returned; \u201cthat we shall not be placed again in the humiliating position of finding ourselves less up on our own subjects than Fanny Roby!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even to Mrs. Plinth this argument was conclusive. She peered furtively about the room and lowered her commanding tones to ask: \u201cHave you got a copy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA\u2014a copy?\u201d stammered Mrs. Ballinger. She was aware that the other members were looking at her expectantly, and that this answer was inadequate, so she supported it by asking another question. \u201cA copy of what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her companions bent their expectant gaze on Mrs. Plinth, who, in turn, appeared less sure of herself than usual. \u201cWhy, of\u2014of\u2014the book,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat book?\u201d snapped Miss Van Vluyck, almost as sharply as Osric Dane.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Ballinger looked at Laura Glyde, whose eyes were interrogatively fixed on Mrs. Leveret. The fact of being deferred to was so new to the latter that it filled her with an insane temerity. \u201cWhy, Xingu, of course!\u201d she exclaimed.<\/p>\n<p>A profound silence followed this challenge to the resources of Mrs. Ballinger\u2019s library, and the latter, after glancing nervously toward the Books of the Day, returned with dignity: \u201cIt\u2019s not a thing one cares to leave about.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI should think not!\u201d exclaimed Mrs. Plinth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a book, then?\u201d said Miss Van Vluyck.<\/p>\n<p>This again threw the company into disarray, and Mrs. Ballinger, with an impatient sigh, rejoined: \u201cWhy\u2014there is a book\u2014naturally\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen why did Miss Glyde call it a religion?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Laura Glyde started up. \u201cA religion? I never\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, you did,\u201d Miss Van Vluyck insisted; \u201cyou spoke of rites; and Mrs. Plinth said it was a custom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Miss Glyde was evidently making a desperate effort to recall her statement; but accuracy of detail was not her strongest point. At length she began in a deep murmur: \u201cSurely they used to do something of the kind at the Eleusinian mysteries\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh\u2014\u201d said Miss Van Vluyck, on the verge of disapproval; and Mrs. Plinth protested: \u201cI understood there was to be no indelicacy!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Ballinger could not control her irritation. \u201cReally, it is too bad that we should not be able to talk the matter over quietly among ourselves. Personally, I think that if one goes into Xingu at all\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, so do I!\u201d cried Miss Glyde.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd I don\u2019t see how one can avoid doing so, if one wishes to keep up with the Thought of the Day\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Leveret uttered an exclamation of relief. \u201cThere\u2014that\u2019s it!\u201d she interposed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s it?\u201d the President took her up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy\u2014it\u2019s a\u2014a Thought: I mean a philosophy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This seemed to bring a certain relief to Mrs. Ballinger and Laura Glyde, but Miss Van Vluyck said: \u201cExcuse me if I tell you that you\u2019re all mistaken. Xingu happens to be a language.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA language!\u201d the Lunch Club cried.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCertainly. Don\u2019t you remember Fanny Roby\u2019s saying that there were several branches, and that some were hard to trace? What could that apply to but dialects?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Ballinger could no longer restrain a contemptuous laugh. \u201cReally, if the Lunch Club has reached such a pass that it has to go to Fanny Roby for instruction on a subject like Xingu, it had almost better cease to exist!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s really her fault for not being clearer,\u201d Laura Glyde put in.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, clearness and Fanny Roby!\u201d Mrs. Ballinger shrugged. \u201cI daresay we shall find she was mistaken on almost every point.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy not look it up?\u201d said Mrs. Plinth.<\/p>\n<p>As a rule this recurrent suggestion of Mrs. Plinth\u2019s was ignored in the heat of discussion, and only resorted to afterward in the privacy of each member\u2019s home. But on the present occasion the desire to ascribe their own confusion of thought to the vague and contradictory nature of Mrs. Roby\u2019s statements caused the members of the Lunch Club to utter a collective demand for a book of reference.<\/p>\n<p>At this point the production of her treasured volume gave Mrs. Leveret, for a moment, the unusual experience of occupying the centre front; but she was not able to hold it long, for Appropriate Allusions contained no mention of Xingu.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, that\u2019s not the kind of thing we want!\u201d exclaimed Miss Van Vluyck. She cast a disparaging glance over Mrs. Ballinger\u2019s assortment of literature, and added impatiently: \u201cHaven\u2019t you any useful books?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf course I have,\u201d replied Mrs. Ballinger indignantly; \u201cI keep them in my husband\u2019s dressing-room.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>From this region, after some difficulty and delay, the parlour-maid produced the W-Z volume of an Encyclopaedia and, in deference to the fact that the demand for it had come from Miss Van Vluyck, laid the ponderous tome before her.<\/p>\n<p>There was a moment of painful suspense while Miss Van Vluyck rubbed her spectacles, adjusted them, and turned to Z; and a murmur of surprise when she said: \u201cIt isn\u2019t here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI suppose,\u201d said Mrs. Plinth, \u201cit\u2019s not fit to be put in a book of reference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, nonsense!\u201d exclaimed Mrs. Ballinger. \u201cTry X.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Miss Van Vluyck turned back through the volume, peering short-sightedly up and down the pages, till she came to a stop and remained motionless, like a dog on a point.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, have you found it?\u201d Mrs. Ballinger enquired after a considerable delay.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes. I\u2019ve found it,\u201d said Miss Van Vluyck in a queer voice.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Plinth hastily interposed: \u201cI beg you won\u2019t read it aloud if there\u2019s anything offensive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Miss Van Vluyck, without answering, continued her silent scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, what is it?\u201d exclaimed Laura Glyde excitedly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo tell us!\u201d urged Mrs. Leveret, feeling that she would have something awful to tell her sister.<\/p>\n<p>Miss Van Vluyck pushed the volume aside and turned slowly toward the expectant group.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a river.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA river?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes: in Brazil. Isn\u2019t that where she\u2019s been living?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho? Fanny Roby? Oh, but you must be mistaken. You\u2019ve been reading the wrong thing,\u201d Mrs. Ballinger exclaimed, leaning over her to seize the volume.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s the only Xingu in the Encyclopaedia; and she has been living in Brazil,\u201d Miss Van Vluyck persisted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes: her brother has a consulship there,\u201d Mrs. Leveret interposed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut it\u2019s too ridiculous! I\u2014we\u2014why we all remember studying Xingu last year\u2014or the year before last,\u201d Mrs. Ballinger stammered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought I did when you said so,\u201d Laura Glyde avowed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI said so?\u201d cried Mrs. Ballinger.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes. You said it had crowded everything else out of your mind.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell you said it had changed your whole life!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor that matter. Miss Van Vluyck said she had never grudged the time she\u2019d given it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Plinth interposed: \u201cI made it clear that I knew nothing whatever of the original.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Ballinger broke off the dispute with a groan. \u201cOh, what does it all matter if she\u2019s been making fools of us? I believe Miss Van Vluyck\u2019s right\u2014she was talking of the river all the while!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow could she? It\u2019s too preposterous,\u201d Miss Glyde exclaimed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cListen.\u201d Miss Van Vluyck had repossessed herself of the Encyclopaedia, and restored her spectacles to a nose reddened by excitement. \u201c\u2018The Xingu, one of the principal rivers of Brazil, rises on the plateau of Mato Grosso, and flows in a northerly direction for a length of no less than one thousand one hundred and eighteen miles, entering the Amazon near the mouth of the latter river. The upper course of the Xingu is auriferous and fed by numerous branches. Its source was first discovered in 1884 by the German explorer von den Steinen, after a difficult and dangerous expedition through a region inhabited by tribes still in the Stone Age of culture.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The ladies received this communication in a state of stupefied silence from which Mrs. Leveret was the first to rally. \u201cShe certainly did speak of its having branches.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The word seemed to snap the last thread of their incredulity. \u201cAnd of its great length,\u201d gasped Mrs. Ballinger.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe said it was awfully deep, and you couldn\u2019t skip\u2014you just had to wade through,\u201d Miss Glyde added.<\/p>\n<p>The idea worked its way more slowly through Mrs. Plinth\u2019s compact resistances. \u201cHow could there be anything improper about a river?\u201d she enquired.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cImproper?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy, what she said about the source\u2014that it was corrupt?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot corrupt, but hard to get at,\u201d Laura Glyde corrected. \u201cSome one who\u2019d been there had told her so. I daresay it was the explorer himself\u2014doesn\u2019t it say the expedition was dangerous?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2018Difficult and dangerous,\u2019\u201d read Miss Van Vluyck.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Ballinger pressed her hands to her throbbing temples. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing she said that wouldn\u2019t apply to a river\u2014to this river!\u201d She swung about excitedly to the other members. \u201cWhy, do you remember her telling us that she hadn\u2019t read \u2018The Supreme Instant\u2019 because she\u2019d taken it on a boating party while she was staying with her brother, and some one had \u2018shied\u2019 it overboard\u2014\u2018shied\u2019 of course was her own expression.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The ladies breathlessly signified that the expression had not escaped them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell\u2014and then didn\u2019t she tell Osric Dane that one of her books was simply saturated with Xingu? Of course it was, if one of Mrs. Roby\u2019s rowdy friends had thrown it into the river!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This surprising reconstruction of the scene in which they had just participated left the members of the Lunch Club inarticulate. At length, Mrs. Plinth, after visibly labouring with the problem, said in a heavy tone: \u201cOsric Dane was taken in too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Leveret took courage at this. \u201cPerhaps that\u2019s what Mrs. Roby did it for. She said Osric Dane was a brute, and she may have wanted to give her a lesson.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Miss Van Vluyck frowned. \u201cIt was hardly worth while to do it at our expense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt least,\u201d said Miss Glyde with a touch of bitterness, \u201cshe succeeded in interesting her, which was more than we did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat chance had we?\u201d rejoined Mrs. Ballinger.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMrs. Roby monopolised her from the first. And that, I\u2019ve no doubt, was her purpose\u2014to give Osric Dane a false impression of her own standing in the club. She would hesitate at nothing to attract attention: we all know how she took in poor Professor Foreland.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe actually makes him give bridge-teas every Thursday,\u201d Mrs. Leveret piped up.<\/p>\n<p>Laura Glyde struck her hands together. \u201cWhy, this is Thursday, and it\u2019s there she\u2019s gone, of course; and taken Osric with her!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd they\u2019re shrieking over us at this moment,\u201d said Mrs. Ballinger between her teeth.<\/p>\n<p>This possibility seemed too preposterous to be admitted. \u201cShe would hardly dare,\u201d said Miss Van Vluyck, \u201cconfess the imposture to Osric Dane.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not so sure: I thought I saw her make a sign as she left. If she hadn\u2019t made a sign, why should Osric Dane have rushed out after her?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, you know, we\u2019d all been telling her how wonderful Xingu was, and she said she wanted to find out more about it,\u201d Mrs. Leveret said, with a tardy impulse of justice to the absent.<\/p>\n<p>This reminder, far from mitigating the wrath of the other members, gave it a stronger impetus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes\u2014and that\u2019s exactly what they\u2019re both laughing over now,\u201d said Laura Glyde ironically.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Plinth stood up and gathered her expensive furs about her monumental form. \u201cI have no wish to criticise,\u201d she said; \u201cbut unless the Lunch Club can protect its members against the recurrence of such\u2014such unbecoming scenes, I for one\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, so do I!\u201d agreed Miss Glyde, rising also.<\/p>\n<p>Miss Van Vluyck closed the Encyclopaedia and proceeded to button herself into her jacket \u201cMy time is really too valuable\u2014\u201d she began.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI fancy we are all of one mind,\u201d said Mrs. Ballinger, looking searchingly at Mrs. Leveret, who looked at the others.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI always deprecate anything like a scandal\u2014\u201d Mrs. Plinth continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe has been the cause of one to-day!\u201d exclaimed Miss Glyde.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Leveret moaned: \u201cI don\u2019t see how she could!\u201d and Miss Van Vluyck said, picking up her note-book: \u201cSome women stop at nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2014but if,\u201d Mrs. Plinth took up her argument impressively, \u201canything of the kind had happened in my house\u201d (it never would have, her tone implied), \u201cI should have felt that I owed it to myself either to ask for Mrs. Roby\u2019s resignation\u2014or to offer mine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, Mrs. Plinth\u2014\u201d gasped the Lunch Club.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFortunately for me,\u201d Mrs. Plinth continued with an awful magnanimity, \u201cthe matter was taken out of my hands by our President\u2019s decision that the right to entertain distinguished guests was a privilege vested in her office; and I think the other members will agree that, as she was alone in this opinion, she ought to be alone in deciding on the best way of effacing its\u2014its really deplorable consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A deep silence followed this outbreak of Mrs. Plinth\u2019s long-stored resentment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t see why I should be expected to ask her to resign\u2014\u201d Mrs. Ballinger at length began; but Laura Glyde turned back to remind her: \u201cYou know she made you say that you\u2019d got on swimmingly in Xingu.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>An ill-timed giggle escaped from Mrs. Leveret, and Mrs. Ballinger energetically continued \u201c\u2014but you needn\u2019t think for a moment that I\u2019m afraid to!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The door of the drawing-room closed on the retreating backs of the Lunch Club, and the President of that distinguished association, seating herself at her writing-table, and pushing away a copy of \u201cThe Wings of Death\u201d to make room for her elbow, drew forth a sheet of the club\u2019s note-paper, on which she began to write: \u201cMy dear Mrs. Roby\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Best Edith Wharton Books to Read<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3uPC6zw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4aaReYn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/46McnVS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><br \/>\nClick on the image to Buy on Amazon<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<p>If you enjoyed Xingu by Edith Wharton, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/his-fathers-son-by-edith-wharton\">His Father\u2019s Son by Edith Wharton<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Narrated by Rosie, courtesy of Librivox<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Xingu by Edith Wharton was published in 1916. Xingu is satire of a pretentious ladies lunch and literature group set in the early 1900\u2019s. This post may contain affiliate links that earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. Xingu by Edith Wharton Xingu by Edith Wharton IMrs. Ballinger is one of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4835"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}