First one would invite the other to a great ball, then the other would respond by giving a sumptuous dinner.

Their dinners were served with as much punctiliousness as if the lordliest guests were present; their dancing parties, while somewhat barren of guests, were never dull for longer than ten minutes after they opened.

Each lady danced twice and then pleaded a headache.

Whereupon the "function" came to a close.
For a while, the two hostesses were not in a position to ask any one outside their immediate families to these functions, but one day Mrs.
Browne was seized by an inspiration.

She announced that she was going to send regular invitations to all of her friends at home.
"Regular written invitations, with five-cent stamps, my dear," she explained enthusiastically.