They were but the gay vanguard of the life which the street, quite dead through the Sunday dinner-hour, presently took on.Young couples with their progeny began to appear, returning from the weekly reunion Sunday dinner with relatives; young people meditative (until they reached the Pike Mansion), the wives fanning themselves or shooing the tots-able-to-walk ahead of them, while the husbands, wearing long coats, satin ties, and showing dust upon their blazing shoes, invariably pushed the perambulators.Most of these passers-by exchanged greetings with Mamie and Eugene, and all of them looked hard at Ariel as long as it was possible.
And now the young men of the town, laboriously arranged as to apparel, began to appear on the street in small squads, making their Sunday rounds;the youngest working in phalanxes of threes and fours, those somewhat older inclining to move in pairs; the eldest, such as were now beginning to be considered middle-aged beaux, or (by the extremely youthful) "old bachelors," evidently considered it advantageous to travel alone.Of all these, there were few who did not, before evening fell, turn in at the gate of the Pike Mansion.
Consciously, shyly or confidently, according to the condition of their souls, they made their way between the cast-iron deer to be presented to the visitor.
Ariel sat at the top of the steps, and, looking amiably over their heads, talked with such as could get near her.There were many who could not, and Mamie, occupying the bench below, was surrounded by the overflow.The difficulty of reaching and maintaining a position near Miss Tabor was increased by the attitude and behavior of Mr.Flitcroft, who that day cooled the feeling of friendship which several of his fellow-townsmen had hitherto entertained for him.He had been the first to arrive, coming alone, though that was not his custom, and he established himself at Ariel's right, upon the step just below her, so disposing the great body and the ponderous arms and legs the gods had given him, that no one could mount above him to sit beside her, or approach her from that direction within conversational distance.Once established, he was not to be dislodged, and the only satisfaction for those in this manner debarred from the society of the beautiful stranger was obtained when they were presented to her and when they took their departure.