She undressed slowly, her æsthetic eyes revelling in all the dainty appointments of the room which was to be her very own. Then she knelt by the broad, low window-seat, and said her prayers, looking away to the stars, which glowed red, and green, and yellow, in the soft summer sky, and then, in a great hush of delight, she lay down between the delicately-perfumed sheets, and gave herself up to the enjoyment of the present which God had given her. She would not think of Sleepy Hollow. She had put it by.
Chapter IV
A New World
Belle entered Pauline’s room to find her cousin revelling in the exquisite pathos of Whittier’s Snowbound before dressing for dinner.
The problem of clothes had been solved by Aunt Rutha in her pleasant, tactful way.
‘You are just Belle’s age, my dear,’ she had said the day after Pauline’s arrival, as she lifted a delicately pencilled muslin from a large parcel which had been brought in from White’s, and laid it against her fresh young cheek.
‘That is very becoming, don’t you think so, Gwen? It is such a delight for me to have two daughters to shop for. I have always had a craze to buy doubles of everything, but Gwendolyn was so much older, I could never indulge myself. There is no need to say anything, dearie,’ and she kissed away the remonstrance that was forming on Pauline’s lips. ‘You belong to us now, you know, and your uncle thinks he owes your mother more than he can ever hope to repay.’
Then she led her to the lounge which Gwendolyn was piling high with delicately embroidered and ruffled underwear.
‘I did not know whether you would like your sets to be of different patterns or not, but Belle has such a horror of having any two alike that I ventured to think that your tastes would agree. The girls are going in town to-morrow to order their summer hats, so you can finish the rest of your shopping then, if you like, and get an idea of our city.’