edwardian

[The Edwardian era] was a time of booming trade, of great prosperity and wealth in which the pageant of London Society took place year after year in a setting of traditional dignity and beauty. The great houses__evonshire, Dorchester, Grosvenor, Stafford and Lansdowne House__ad not yet been converted into museums, hotels and flats, and there we danced through the long summer nights till dawn. The great country-houses still flourished in their glory, and on their lawns in the green shade of trees the art of human intercourse was exquisitely practised by men and women not yet enslaved by household cares and chores who still had time to read, to talk, to listen and to think.

To be clever in the afternoon argues that one is dining nowhere in the evening.

Katie shook her head in dismay. __ thought being poor was the worst thing that could happen to a girl.___o, Katie,_ the countess said in a clear voice. __he worst thing is to be in love with one man and have to marry another.__atie O'Reilly to the Countess of Marbury in "Titanic Rhapsody