"Ready! I should think not!" Millicent answered. "Do you know, neither he nor Joel nor Mr. Jervais have come back yet; and they have been gone for hours. Mrs. Houston sent the Judge in an hour ago to bring them back. It's perfectly dreadful for them to behave like this, and I intend to tell them so as soon as they come!"
Natalia listened calmly, then turned away to hide the anxiety in her eyes.
"They will be here before we know it," she answered, after a little while, forcing a smile to her lips.
"I suppose they became interested in some discussion and forgot all about the time. Just like men! But do hurry, Millicent, and come back as soon as you can to help me dress. Now, Mammy," she turned back to Dicey, stopping a moment to survey herself in the cheval glass. "Are you going to help make me very beautiful to-night? I believe I'll wear my hair like I used to. It's dreadfully unfashionable now, but I believe it's becoming."
She sat down in the chair, and unloosening her hair, let it fall in waves about her. Clasping her hands tight in her lap, she looked steadily before her the anxiety creeping back into her eyes. All the while Dicey watched her closely. In the old woman's eyes the strange look had come again. It was burning brilliantly now.
"I wish he had come sooner. I wish—" Natalia lifted her head resolutely—"I mean platted in a crown, Mammy, like you did it when I was a little girl. Have you forgotten how?"
"No—I hain't fergit."
"Then you arrange it for me, and I'll wear the daisies in it that you brought me. Won't that be fetching? I'll sit very still, Mammy, while you fix it. Do you remember," she laughed plaintively, "how I used to wriggle and fidget when you would do it that way?"
Dicey did not move toward her. Shaking her head firmly she only stared.
"I won't fix hit dat way fer yer," she suddenly burst out. "I won't! I won't!"