“That’s very nice, and I am sure you won’t be offended if a much older woman gives you a little piece of advice.”
“Oh, not at all! I should be most grateful.”
“‘The truth is,’ answered Lady Jane, ‘it’s about your hair.’”
“The truth is,” answered Lady Jane, “it’s about your hair. Are you sure you don’t mind? Don’t you think that perhaps, if you did not draw it back so very tight, it might look—er—a little less—er—unprepossessing?”
“It’s so easy to do it in this way,” answered Miss Scott, and she made her right eye wander rather wildly, for that was one of the tricks she had learnt in amateur theatricals. “But I shall be only too happy to try something else, if you do not think it would seem ridiculous.”
“I’m sure you needn’t be afraid of that,” said Lady Jane; “and besides, no one else will notice it, you know. I mean,” she added, not wishing to seem unkind, “I mean that no one will care, you know, except me, and I should like you to look—er—a little more like other people.”
“I quite understand,” answered Miss Scott; “I’ll do my best. But I ought to tell you that when my hair isn’t pulled straight back, it’s wavy.”
“All the better,” answered Lady Jane, with satisfaction. “That will be very nice.”