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
The new house was a dream. Young Mr. Coppe, of Coppe & Coppe, the
architects, had arranged all the decorations, and he showed rare taste
and ingenuity, for to contrive the surroundings for an Indian dance was
no simple matter. But he worked it out cleverly. Entering the great
hall, the guests left civilization behind them and stood in a giant
wigwam. It was a little out of shape, because of the proportions of
the room, but the illusion was well maintained by the arrangement of
poles and hides, with decorations of bows, arrows, and imitation scalps
hanging everywhere. Of course it was necessary to leave this for a
moment and plunge into the civilization of the dressing-rooms, where a
score of servants costumed like trappers were in attendance. But when
your costume was arranged you plunged into the wild again, passing
through the wigwam, up the broad stairway, past the famous Velasquez
and the Fatuous portrait of Mrs. Radigan and her child, pausing in the
foyer, a charming forest with a pool full of goldfish in the centre,
on into the wigwam, once the portrait-gallery, where Mrs. Radigan
received her guests.
Mrs. Radigan was superb. Mrs. Radigan was unique. Mrs. Radigan was
lovely. She was Pocahontas, and that there should be not the slightest
color of scandal she made Radigan appear as Captain John Smith, so
when he wandered up, dragging his long rifle, she could with propriety
acknowledge him as her husband. I do not know what the real Pocahontas
looked like, but if she was anything like Mrs. Radigan she must have
been capable of any heroism. Mrs. Radigan is massive. Her hair, black,
flowing down over her shoulders, interworked with flowers and feathers,
gave her in the higher altitudes the appearance of Hamlet's unhappy
love. Her gown might be described as that of a _nouveau-riche_ Indian
maiden, for the famous Radigan pearls put the bead-work to sleep,
speaking figuratively; and the rather short skirt gave a glimpse of
open-work silks that might have been a gift from her Majesty of England.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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