These people had
never done anything to speak of, none of them were famous in
any wide sense, but they talked of art with a big "A," though
what they meant was not clear even to themselves. So far as
could be ascertained Art, with a big "A," was concerned with
something which did not sell, save to a select circle. Mrs.
Octagon's circle would have shuddered collectively and
individually at the idea of writing anything interesting,
likely to be enjoyed by the toilers of modern days. Whatever
pictures, songs, books or plays were written by anyone who did
not belong to "The Circle," these were considered "pretty, but
not Tart!" Anything successful was pronounced "Vulgar!" To be
artistic in Mrs. Octagon's sense, a work had to possess
obscurity, it had to be printed on the finest paper with
selected type, and it had to be sold at a prohibitive price.
In this way "Rowena" had produced her works, and her name was
not known beyond her small coterie. All the same, she
intimated that her renown was world-wide and that her fame
would be commensurate with the existence of the Anglo-Saxon
race. Mrs. Lee Hunter in the Pickwick Papers, also labored
under the same delusion.
With Peter lived Mrs. Saxon's children by the eminent Q.C.
Basil, who was twenty-five, and Juliet age twenty-two. They
were both handsome and clever, but Juliet was the more
sensible of the two. She detested the sham enthusiasm of The
Circle, and appreciated Peter more than her mother did.
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