"They're wet, just as I expected." She said joyfully, "Take them off!"
"O, no! They'll dry in a minute."
"Take them off, Annette," commanded Mrs. Harvey. "O, what lovely feet and ankles!" she said, and so betrayed her not too subtle design to Rose.
Rose was passive now, and yielded to the manipulations of the two women. They all had a gale of fun over the difference between Mrs. Harvey's stockings and her own, and then they brought out a fantastic pair of slippers and a beautiful wrap, which Mrs. Harvey insisted upon putting about her.
At about this time Elbert knocked on the door.
"Can't I come in and share the fun, Caroline?"
"In a moment!" she replied, and finished tucking the robe about Rose. "Now you may."
Elbert came in, radiant, unabashed, smiling, almost grinning his delight. He had changed his dress to a neat and exquisitely fitting dark suit, and he looked very handsome indeed. His cheeks were like peaches, with much the same sort of fuzz over them.
He took a place near the fire where he could see Rose, and he signaled to his mother at the earliest chance that she was stunning.
Rose lay back in the chair with the robe drawn about her, looking the grande dame from her crown of hair to the tasseled toes of her slippers. She might almost have been Colombe on the eve of her birthday.