The Custom of the Country Chapter 5

In which a young woman newly admitted to the operatic circle contemplates the complex social dances and unspoken rivalries of New York society, observing from her box both the dazzling spectacles and the subtle exclusions among its glittering players. Meanwhile, a thoughtful young man, uneasy with the brashness of the fashionable world, reflects on the fading virtues of an older order, feeling caught between aspiration and allegiance.