Mrs. Touchett was right in guessing that Henrietta disapproved of her, but she had not quite put her 昀nger on the reason. A day or two after Miss Stackpole＇s arrival she had made some invidious reflexions on American hotels, which excited a vein of counterargument on the part of the correspondent of the Interviewer, who in the exercise of her profession had acquainted herself, in the western world, with every form of caravansary. Henrietta expressed the opinion that American hotels were the best in the world, and Mrs. Touchett, fresh from a renewed struggle with them, recorded a conviction that they were the worst.Ralph, with his experimental geniality, suggested,by way of healing the breach, that the truth lay between the two extremes and that the establishments in question ought to be described as fair middling.This contribution to the discussion, however, Miss Stackpole rejected with scorn. Middling indeed! If they were not the best in the world they were the worst, but there was nothing middling about an American hotel.