'I can believe that,' with an admiring glance.
'I would have one good black dress—and it should be as nice as my means would allow—and I would wear it everywhere, and I would not care a bit if people looked as though they recognised it. "You are noticing my gown!" I would say to them. "Yes, it is an old friend. Old friends are better than new, and I mean to cling to mine. By and by, when I am a little richer, I will buy another."'
'Miss Ross, if my mother could but hear you!'
'Tell her what I say, and bid her do the same. Black suits her so perfectly, too.'
'Oh, she never means to wear anything else but black,' he returned gravely.
'Let her get a soft silk—a Surah, for example—and if it be made prettily and in the newest fashion, it will look well for a long time. Yes'—reflectively—'Mrs. Blake would look well in Surah.'
'Would she? Do you mind telling me how to spell it?' and Cyril produced his pocket-book.
'S-u-r-a-h.'
'Thank you a thousand times, Miss Ross! And about the cost—would five pounds do?' looking at her anxiously.
'Oh yes, I should say that would do,' replied Audrey, who in reality knew very little about it.