When Caroline returned her uncle told her of his visitor. She seemed
unfeignedly pleased, but regretted that she had not been there. "He was
such a friend of father's," she said, "that seeing him here would be
almost like the old days. And so many of those whom we thought were his
friends and ours have left us."
This was true. Rodgers Warren and his children had had many
acquaintances, had been active in church and charitable work, and their
former home was a center of entertainment and gayety while he lived. But
his death and the rumors of shrinkage in the family fortune, the giving
up of the Fifth Avenue residence, the period of mourning which forbade
social functions, all these helped to bring about forgetfulness on the
part of the many; and Caroline's supersensitiveness and her firm resolve
not to force her society where it might be unwelcome had been the causes
of misunderstanding in others, whose liking and sympathy were genuine.
"I don't see what has come over Caroline Warren," declared a former girl
friend, "she isn't a bit as she used to be. Well, I've done my part. If
she doesn't wish to return my call, she needn't. _I_ sha'n't annoy her
again. But I'm sorry, for she was the sweetest girl I knew."
Stephen had never been very popular, and his absence at college still
further reduced the number of young people who might be inclined to
call.
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