She said that late dinner savored too distinctly of the mannish
element for her to tolerate. It reminded her, she said, of clerks
returning home dead-beat after a day's hard toil; it reminded her of
sordid labor, and of all kinds of unpleasant things; whereas high tea
was in itself womanly, and was in all respects suited to the gentle
appetites of ladies who were living genteelly on their means. Mrs.
Flint's boarders were as a rule impressed by her words, and high tea
was, in short, a recognized institution of the establishment.
On the evening of the day when poor little Daisy had disappeared from
her Palace Beautiful Mrs. Flint's boarders were enjoying their genteel
repast in the cool shades of her parlor. They had shrimps for tea, and
eggs, and buttered toast, and a small glass dish of sardines, to say
nothing of a few little dishes of different preserves. Mrs. Dredge,
who was considered by the other ladies to have an appetite the reverse
of refined, had, in addition to these slight refreshments, a mutton
chop. This she was eating with appetite and relish, while Miss Slowcum
languidly tapped her egg, and remarked as she did so that it was
hollow, but not more so than life.
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