"Oh, delightful!—Every house full, from the cellar to the garret. How often I wished for you, Jane! if it was only earlier in the season I would make pa take us there again, just for the pleasure of showing off your new French fashions—you would be the greatest belle of the season."
"We need not inquire who was the belle," said Elinor; "such important news reaches even sober, home-staying people like us."
"Oh, we had half a dozen belles—all lively, pretty girls. There was a young gentleman, from Savannah, at Congress Hall, who wrote some verses about us, and called us the 'Chime of Bells;' it was a sort of imitation of 'Those Evening Bells,' and was published in the Saratoga papers. But if Jane had been there, I don't think we should have stood much chance."
{"Those Evening Bells," popular song by the Irish poet Thomas
Moore (1779-1852), arranged by Sir John Stevenson (1761-1833)}
"You think the poet would have rung a bob-major, for Jane?"
"Certainly; with her trunks full of things from Paris, she would have carried all before her."
"I don't think Jane has brought a very large share of finery with her," said Elinor.
"No, indeed," said Harry; "only five trunks and three boxes, which I had the honour of getting through the Custom-House."
"But part of it was for her friends," said Elinor.
"You would have needed a large supply, I can tell you, Jane," said Miss Adeline, "if you had wanted to out-dash us; for we determined this season, some half-dozen of us, to out-do the young ladies who were there last year."