"I am glad to see you," she said. "I thought you might come."
A slight expression of surprise showed itself in the girl's eyes. It had never occurred to her that she might not come.
"Oh, yes," she replied. "I never could go down alone when there was any one who would go with me."
There was something on her mind, Miss Ferrol fancied, and presently it burst forth in a confidential inquiry.
"Is this dress very short-waisted?" she asked, with great earnestness.
Merciful delicacy stood in the way of Miss Ferrol's telling her how short-waisted it was, and how it maltreated her beautiful young body.
"It is rather short-waisted, it is true."
"Perhaps," the girl went on, with a touch of guileless melancholy, "I am naturally this shape."
Here, it must be confessed, Miss Ferrol forgot herself for the moment, and expressed her indignation with undue fervor.
"Perish the thought!" she exclaimed. "Why, child! your figure is a hundred times better than mine."