Mrs. Radigan: Her Biography, with that of Miss Pearl Veal, and the Memoirs of J. Madison MudisonLloyd, Nelson
General
Mrs. Radigan: Her Biography, with that of Miss Pearl Veal, and the Memoirs of J. Madison Mudison
Lloyd, Nelson
New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction; Satire; Social classes -- Fiction; Women -- Conduct of life -- Fiction
Meaning, of course, I pondered, that the Greeks always had columns
outside their study windows. The tower, then, was meant to indicate
that John was a vestryman in St. Edward's, and the French front below
that his wife was a leader of the fashion. I was curious to know what
the back of the house expressed and was graciously informed that Mr.
Coppe said that it was not a reproduction, but had been inspired by the
Villa Medici in Rome.
So we went on. A loud banging at a brass knocker, taken from one of
Washington's head-quarters, set electric bells going inside and brought
a workman, who summoned Mr. Coppe, he having been prepared for our
coming. Coppe is a charming fellow. He has danced his way to the very
front of his profession, and as a cotillon-leader and artist has no
rival in the city. Of late he has been giving his entire time to the
Radigans, and his commissions on the interior decorations alone would
allow him to retire for life. I could see that at a glance. In every
room there was a goodly company of workmen--working, for the walking
delegate was there looking after the interests of his relatives.
The entrance-floor did not interest me much. A few small reception
and dressing rooms were surrounded by servants' quarters and kitchens,
and Mrs. Radigan refused to look at the kitchen. Cooking odors, she
said, always nauseated her, a condition for which she had to thank
her surfeited maternal ancestors, I suspect. So we went up the wide
staircase, part of which was brought from an old French château. At the
first landing Mr. Coppe drew our attention to a niche in the wall.
"Here," he said, "we shall hang the famous Velasquez which I recently
discovered on the East Side and purchased for Mr. Radigan for
$40,000--a bargain."
This was the first Radigan had heard of his prize, and it pleased him
greatly.
"Is it an ancient or a modern?" he inquired gravely.
Hearing its age and that it was so old that the central figure hardly
showed at all, he expressed his delight. Radigan has been developing
wonderfully of late as a patron of the arts.
At the second landing we came to the well-known portrait of J. John
Radigan, Esq., in hunting costume, and at the head of the stairs, in
the foyer, the first thing to catch the eye was the picture of Mrs.
Radigan, which made such a furore at the recent Academy. It is by
the great Fatuous, who did the Kaiser, the Duke of Lummix, and Lady
Angelica Mumm, and so has had a great vogue here this winter. In
securing him to paint her into society last fall, Mrs. Radigan executed
a master-stroke. She sat day and night that it might be done in time
for the exhibition, but nothing ever daunts her. She declared that poor
Radigan was risking life and limb playing polo and hunting foxes for
her sake, and she just had to do something. Between sitting and polo I
should say that the latter was the easier, but surely she was repaid
for her suffering.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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