Patty adjusted the shapeless garment, which hung in loose folds from her shoulders, but which, with its muddy hue and clumsy drapery, was decidedly unattractive. Over it she put on a sort of tunic of green and orange damask, edged with glittering sequins.
"Oh," cried Nan, relieved, "I didn't know it was a fancy dress affair."
"It isn't," returned Patty. "They all wear this sort of clothes."
"They do? Are they supposed to be brainy?—Blaney, I mean!"
"Don't be unpleasant, Nancy, it doesn't suit you. And, honestly, I like these people, and I like to be with them. Now, it would be silly of me to wear my usual dance frocks where everybody dresses quite differently. So, don't criticise unkindly, will you?"
"Of course not, you goosie. But it seems a shame when you look so pretty in your own clothes, to wear these hideous duds."
"Thank you for the compliment on the side, but the Cosmic Centre people think I look rather well in these things. I haven't shown them this gown yet, but I know they'll love it."
"It's lucky for you your father isn't at home! He'd make you take it right straight off."
"Oh, no, he wouldn't, Nancy-lady. I'm not a little girl any more, to be scolded and sent to bed. There, I'm ready."
Patty had added a long string of queer-looking beads, terminating in a huge pendant of Oriental effect. It was composed of coloured stones set in dingy metalwork.