"He told Patience that he liked to see me without the caps, and there was no need for my wearing them until I should have children old enough to set an example to."
Anna took off her straw bonnet as she spoke, and her curls fell to shade her blushing cheeks. Mary wondered whether the "children" would have faces as lovely as their mother's. She had never seen Anna look so well. For one thing, she had rarely seen her so well dressed. She wore a stone-coloured corded silk, glistening with richness, and an exquisite white shawl that must have cost no end of money.
"I should always let my curls be seen, Anna," said Mary; "there can be no harm in it."
"No, that there can't, as Charles does not think so," emphatically answered Anna. "Mary," dropping her voice to a whisper, "I want Charles not to wear those straight coats any more. He shakes his head at me and laughs; but I think he will listen to me."
Seeing what she did of the change in Anna's dress, Mary thought so too. Not but that Anna's things were still cut sufficiently in the old form to bespeak her sect: as they, no doubt, always would be.
"When art thee coming to spend the day with me, as thee promised?" asked Anna.
"Very soon: when this assize bustle shall be over."
"How gay you will be to-night!"
"How formal you mean," said Mary. "To entertain judges when on circuit, and bishops, and deans, is more formidable than pleasant. It is a state dinner to-night. When I saw papa this morning, I inquired if we were to have the javelin-men on guard in the dining-room."
Anna laughed. "Do Frank and Gar dine there?"