"Lovely!" Edith repeats; "lovely indeed. Beatrix, what a fortunate girl you are."
There is a touch of envy in her tone. Beatrix laughs, and gives her a third hug.
"Why? Because I have pearls? Bless you! they're nothing. You'll have diamonds beyond counting yourself, one of those days. You'll marry rich, of course—brunettes are all the style now, and you're sure to look lovely by gaslight. What are you going to wear to-night?"
"I'm like Flora McFlimsey," Edith laughs; "I have nothing to wear. There is a white Swiss muslin in my trunk, but it will look wofully rustic and dowdy, I'm afraid, in your gorgeous drawing-rooms."
"Nonsense! Plain Swiss is always in taste for girls of eighteen. I wore it greatly my first season. Do you know I feel awfully old, Edith—twenty-one to-night! I must do something toward settling before the year ends. Let us see the white Swiss. Now there is a lovely amber tissue I have—it isn't my color. I never wore it but once, and it would suit you exactly. Lucy, my maid, is a perfect dress-maker, and could alter it to fit you easily before—Now, Edith! you're not angry?"
For the color has risen suddenly all over Edith's proud, pale face.
"You have made a mistake, Miss Stuart, that is all—meant kindly, I am sure. If my white muslin is admissible, I will wear it; if not, I can keep to my room. But neither now, nor at any future time, can I accept—charity."
Trixy gives a little shriek at the word, and inflicts a fourth hug on Edith. She is the soul of easy good-nature herself, and ready to take anything and everything that is offered her, from a husband to a bouquet.
"Bless the child!" she exclaims. "Charity! As if any one ever thought of such a thing. It's just like me, however, to make a mess of it. I mean well, but somehow I always do make a mess of it. And my prophetic soul tells me, the case of Sir Victor Catheron will be no exception to the rest."
The day wears on. Edith drives down town, shopping with Madame and
Mademoiselle Stuart; she returns, and dines in state with the family.
The big, brown house is lit up from basement to attic, and presently
they all adjourn to their rooms to dress.