But Monty's sense of humor, singularly enough, did not desert him on this trying occasion.
Aesthetically the ball proved to be the talk of more than one season.
Pettingill had justified his desire for authority and made a name which would last.

He had taken matters into his own hands while Brewster was in Florida, and changed the period from the Spain of Velasquez to France and Louis Quinze.

After the cards were out he remembered, to his consternation, that the favors purchased for the Spanish ball would be entirely inappropriate for the French one.

He wired Brewster at once of this misfortune, and was astonished at the nonchalance of his reply.
"But then Monty always was a good sort," he thought, with a glow of affection.

The new plan was more costly than the old, for it was no simple matter to build a Versailles suite at Sherry's.