The House of Mirth Book Two Chapter 05

In which Miss Lily Bart, finding herself adrift from her former social sphere, accepts an invitation to join the lively but less refined Gormer circle, where she contemplates the uneasy balance between pride and expediency amidst new acquaintances and past intimacies. She weighs the subtle complexities of friendship, influence, and matrimonial prospects with a sober eye, while the rhythms of society’s unceasing spectacle carry her along its uncertain currents.