The Celebrity

In the summer world of Asquith and Mohair, romance becomes a public spectacle, and reputation proves as slippery as charm. Charles Wrexell Allen's growing devotion to Irene Trevor stirs gossip, while the arrival of the enigmatic "Celebrity" brings a sharper intrigue: a man admired for his wit and literary fame, yet restless enough to travel incognito under another name. As Farquhar Fenelon Cooke stages a house-warming dance of absurd elegance, the narrator is drawn into the comic machinery of privilege, from the fashionable "Ten" to the social rituals that seem to govern everyone's movements. Marian Thorn's arrival adds intelligence, warmth, and wit to the gathering, and her cool exchanges with the Celebrity hint at a past connection that complicates his carefully managed persona. When his identity and motives begin to unravel, local society erupts into scandal, but he still proves capable of smoothing the damage. Meanwhile, the narrator's canoe outings with Miss Trevor deepen into intimate confidence, even as she reveals a startling engagement to the Celebrity. In this sharp, ironic comedy of manners, love, vanity, and self-invention keep colliding. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.