Quite early in the day the young lady ordered a handsome ball dress placed in a box, and directed it to be taken to her dressmaker, to receive some trifling alterations before evening. She would call in good season there, so she told her mother, and order it sent to Mrs. Caruthers's.
Then, waiting for Mrs. Meeker, to take her morning drive, she went to her room and hurried on a travelling dress.
She was going down stairs, when Harriet's nurse opened the door of her young mistress's apartment, and asked her to step a moment into the room.
Belle turned with all the composure she could muster; she curbed her impatience, and looked amiable.
'Oh, are you going out, Belle?'
'Yes, dear; you know I am to be early at Mrs. Caruthers's. Mamma can't go with me—so I am to stay all night.'
'Why, you have on your travelling dress!'
'It looks odd, doesn't it I—I have sent my ball dress to Laroche, to be altered a little; and I have to call there now, and I want her to see me in this. Do you know, I don't think she has fitted me well at all?'
'It seems to me quite perfect.'
'Hatty, dear, did you want me?'