We went to the Commemoration Ball that year, and Hugo asked us to bring Paulina.
Cousin Delia came, and we stayed at an hotel. Guy came up too, and Anthony Cowper.
Hugo danced with Paulina a great deal. He danced with me too, of course, but it was not like it used to be. Paulina looked very lovely. She wore a pale blue gown with sequins embroidered on it, that shimmered and rippled when she moved, and her hair shone like corn in the sun.
I sat with Cousin Delia for a bit and watched them dancing, and I wondered what she was thinking.
I wanted to say:
‘Paulina is very pretty, don’t you think?’ and see what she would say. But I couldn’t. Cousin Delia would always know what you were really meaning if you tried to say something else.
Once she touched my hand.
‘I like that dress of yours, dear heart,’ she said. ‘Did Mollie help you to choose it?’
Cousin Delia was very fond of Mollie, and Mollie loved her. We were all glad about that.
Guy and Mollie came up to us. I thought how pretty Mollie looked that night, more as she ought to look always, and I thought I would rather look like Mollie than Paulina, in spite of everything.