The Inner Sisterhood

The Inner Sisterhood: A Social Study in High Colors by Douglass Shirley is about the simple reflections of a high-born young gentlewoman after an evening ball. Excerpt: «The storm door closes with a bang! My escort, a stupid fellow, has said „Good night!“ He drives down the street in his old rattletrap of a coupe. I am so glad he is gone! And yet I am always afraid of burglars—or—something dreadful, whenever I go into the house alone so late at night. I bolt the inside door. I mount the hall chair, left waiting by papa, and, trembling with a nameless fear, turn out the gas and leave myself in darkness. I make two vain dashes for the stair; a third, and I have found it. I grope for the heavy rail and go rapidly up, two steps at a time, and finally, out of breath, badly frightened, reach my room.»