Mr. Hartbeest Schneidekoupon

Schneidekoupon moves through Washington society as a rich New Yorker whose family claims descent from all the Kings of Israel and is prouder than Solomon in his glory, a lineage his sister Julia defends with severe dignity. He is among Victoria Dare's suitors, and it is at his request that Sybil sits down at the piano to sing her ironic hymn, a small moment that helps disperse the tension after Jacobi's harangue. His money and marital prospects make him a specimen of the novel's larger theme: how American wealth and democratic ambition negotiate with the older claims of blood and title.