She asked for the "Magnolia Bloom" in a weak and trembling voice, and was relieved to find they had it.
"Which shade will you have?" asked the young lady behind the counter.
"Oh, the very whitest, please!" exclaimed Jane-Anne.
"D'you want a puff, miss?" asked the attendant.
Jane-Anne had never thought of a puff. She shook her head sadly. Judging by the price of the other things, no puff could be obtained for three-halfpence, which was all the money she had.
She hurried from the shop.
How expensive it was to be beautiful!
She knew what a puff was, for she had been permitted to assist at and to admire the bathing of Mrs. Methuen's baby, and she had seen the nurse powder him. She was nothing if not resourceful. She went to the nearest jeweller and bought a pennyworth of cotton wool, and armed with what The Peeress called these "aids to beauty," she returned to Holywell in a flutter of excitement.
Anxious as she was to try the beautifying effect of the "Magnolia Bloom," she felt some diffidence in presenting herself before her aunt thus embellished, so she waited until she had taken in Mr. Wycherly's tea and had her own.
It was Mr. Wycherly's pleasant custom to keep her for half an hour or so when she went in to take away his tea. They talked about Greece, and she had learned to read some of the simple words. She learned the alphabet in two evenings, and astonished Mr. Wycherly by her quickness and receptivity.