… course when I was in Paris we ate these all the time. They’re quite good here though not like the French make them … One must stay interested, Lil, it’s the most important thing, don’t you know? Interested in what’s going on, course now it has to do with the vote. Imagine half the population not being able to vote. Let’s hope it’s different for you, Lil, that women will have some say. I’ve got my women’s group working on it. Margaret, maybe you’d be interested in — ?

Mrs. Eliot sat by with one eyebrow raised, cautiously sampling the recommended gin fizzes, then gamely ordering another.

Well, maybe not, said Aunt Tizzy. Anyway, do you see that mural over there? She was his daughter-in-law. We used to come here with them when I first came to New York — funny little girl with a monkey face, never opened her mouth.

I’m sure she had her talents, said Arthur.

Aunt Tizzy slapped his arm, then made as if she were ignoring him. Mrs. Eliot did not seem to have heard.

The Havemeyer wedding reception was in a large round room surrounded by pillars wound with ivy and topped with a dome. Arthur danced with Lilian, surprising her with his dexterity. She was sitting at a gold-trimmed table eating yellow cake with Aunt Tizzy when a man with hair shiny as a dachshund’s came over and joined them. Aunt Tizzy introduced him — he had a number of names and it took a moment to recite them — pressed her glove to his cheek, then, accepting an elderly man’s invitation to dance, left him with Lilian. The man with the shiny hair leaned toward Lilian, giving off the smell of perfume.

Your aunt is a remarkable woman, he said. Unfortunately, there aren’t many men strong enough to appreciate her.

Aunt Tizzy sailed by in the arms of the elderly man, her features suddenly taking on a strange new beauty, the greater for her not being aware of it.

Lilian regarded the man. Aunt Tizzy had been engaged once, to an Englishman, whom she’d brought home one Christmas. He had white hair and lips as red as liver. Once, when they thought they were unobserved, Lilian saw him spank her playfully on the bottom. But the wedding had not happened. Another woman intervened.

Perhaps she doesn’t want to get married, Lilian said.

Every woman wants to get married, said the man. He sipped his champagne and watched with amusement as people passed. Why not?

Sometimes one doesn’t find the right person, Lilian said, feeling awfully that she had, then had lost him.

One always does, said the man. People just don’t always know how to do it is all.

People seem to, Lilian said.

Oh! the man said. I wasn’t talking about seeming.

Lilian pushed at her cake.

You’re not married, he said.