"Oh dear!" she ejaculated, withdrawing her enraptured gaze. "But I fear it is very dear." "Never let madame talk about that," said the Frenchwoman. "It is high; but--look at it. One could not pick up such a dress as that every day." "How I should like to have it!" "The moment we took this dress out of the caisse, I said to Miss Atkinson, who was helping me, 'That must be for Madame Dalreemp: there is no other lady who could do it justice.' Madame," she quickly added, as if an idea had just occurred to her, "fancy this robe, fine et belle, over a delicate pink glacé or a maize!" "Or over white," suggested Selina. "Or over white--Madame Dalreemp's taste is always correct. It would be a dress fit for a duchess, too elegant for many of them." Some silks of different colours were called for, and the lace robe was displayed upon them successively. Selina went into ecstasies when the peach-blossom colour was underneath. "I must have it. What is the price?" "Just one hundred guineas, neither more nor less: and to anybody but Madame Dalreemp I should say a hundred and twenty. But I know that when once she appears in this before the world, I shall have order upon order. It will be, 'Where did you get that dress, ma chère Madame Dalreemp?' and madame will answer, 'I got it of Damereau;' and then they will come flocking to me. Ainsi, ma bonne dame, I can afford to let you have your things cheap." "I don't know what to say," hesitated Selina, taking in, nevertheless, all the flattery. "A hundred guineas; it is a great deal: and what a bill I shall have! that lace dress I bought three weeks ago was only sixty." "What was that lace robe compared with this?" was madame's indignant rejoinder. "That was nothing but common guipure. Look at what the effect of this will be! Ah, madame, if you do not take it I shall not sleep: I shall be vexed to my heart. Just as madame pleases, though, of course. Milady Grey did come to me yesterday for a lace dress: I told milady I should have one in a week's time: I did not care for her to see it first, for she is short, and she does not set off the things well. I know she would give me one hundred and twenty for this, and be glad to get it." This was nearly the climax. Lady Grey, a young and pretty woman, dressed as extravagantly as did Mrs. Dalrymple, and there was a hidden rivalry between them, quite well known. "There is another lady who would like it, I know, and she has but just gone out--and a most charming angel she is. I do speak of the Lady Adela----" This was quite the climax, and Selina hastily interrupted. Lady Adela was even more lovely than was she herself: very much, too, in the same style of delicate beauty. What would Adela be in that lace dress! "I will take it," cried Selina. "I must have a slip of that peach glacé to wear underneath it." "It will be altogether fit for a queen," quoth madame. "But could I have them home by tomorrow night for Lady Burnham's party?" "Certainly madame can."