"All well, thank you. We sailed from Boston on the 14th of October; and before that I spent two days with Rose Red,—you remember her? She is married now, and has the dearest little home and such a darling baby."
"Yes, I heard of her marriage. It didn't seem much of a match for Mr. Redding's daughter to make, did it? I never supposed she would be satisfied with anything less than a member of Congress or a Secretary of Legation."
"Rose isn't particularly ambitious, I think, and she seems perfectly happy," replied Katy, flushing.
"Oh, you needn't fire up in her defence; you and Clover always did adore Rose Red, I know, but I never could see what there was about her that was so wonderfully fascinating. She never had the least style, and she was always just as rude to me as she could be."
"You were not intimate at school, but I am sure Rose was never rude," said Katy, with spirit.
"Well, we won't fight about her at this late day. Tell me where you have been, and where you are going, and how long you are to stay in Europe."
Katy, glad to change the subject, complied, and the conversation diverged into comparison of plans and experiences. Lilly had been in Europe nearly a year, and had seen "almost everything," as she phrased it. She and her mother had spent the previous winter in Italy, had taken a run into Russia, "done" Switzerland and the Tyrol thoroughly, and France and Germany, and were soon going into Spain, and from there to Paris, to shop in preparation for their return home in the spring.
"Of course we shall want quantities of things," she said. "No one will believe that we have been abroad unless we bring home a lot of clothes. The lingerie and all that is ordered already; but the dresses must be made at the last moment, and we shall have a horrid time of it, I suppose. Worth has promised to make me two walking-suits and two ball-dresses, but he's very bad about keeping his word. Did you do much when you were in Paris, Katy?"
"We went to the Louvre three times, and to Versailles and St. Cloud," said Katy, wilfully misunderstanding her.
"Oh, I didn't mean that kind of stupid thing; I meant gowns. What did you buy?"