The Custom of the Country
Authorship not stated
You are Undine Spragg, newly arrived from Apex and installing your family in a New York hotel suite, propping Ralph Marvell's photograph where the morning light flatters it. Turning his portrait into an acquaintance takes a manicurist with the right connections, a calculated five-dollar donation to his sister's charity, and a father who prices every step toward acceptance. By evening, Mrs. Fairford herself telephones: a place has opened at her dinner table tomorrow night, and you have bought your way to the door.
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