"It is so." "How did you contract them? Not as--as--Robert did? Surely that infatuation is not come upon you?" "No. But that infatuation, as you call it, is in fashion in our circles just now. I could tell you of one young lady, whom you know, who amuses herself with it pretty largely." "A young lady!" "She is younger than I am--but she's married," returned Selina: and the young lady in question was the Lady Adela Grubb. "My embarrassment arises from a love of pretty gowns," she added lightly; for it was not possible for Selina Dalrymple to maintain a tragic mood many minutes together. "Damereau's bill for last season was between three and four thousand pounds. It is between four and five thousand now." Alice Dalrymple felt bewildered. "It is not possible for one person to owe all that for one year, Selina!" "Not possible?" repeated Mrs. Dalrymple. "Some of my friends spend double--treble--four times what I do." "And so their example led you on?" cried Alice, presently, waking up from a whirlpool of thought. "Something led me on. If one is in the world, one must dress." "No, Selina: not as you have done. Not to ruin. If people have only a small income they dress accordingly." "And make a sight of themselves. I don't choose to." "Better that, and have peace of mind," remarked Alice. "Peace of mind! Oh, I don't know where that is to be found nowadays." "I hope you will find it, Selina. How much do you say you owe?" "There's four thousand to Damereau, and----" "Who is Damereau?" "Goodness me, Alice; if you never did spend a season in town, you ought to know who she is, without asking. Madame Damereau's the great milliner and dressmaker; every one goes to her." "I remember now. Lady Sarah has her things elsewhere." "Then I owe for India shawls, and lace, and jewels, and furs and things. I owe six thousand pounds if I owe a farthing." "What a sum!" echoed Alice, aghast. "Six thousand pounds!" "Ay, you may well repeat it! Which of the queens was it who said that when she died the name of Calais would be found engraven on her heart? Mary, I think. Were I to die, those two words, 'six thousand,' would be found engraven on mine. They are never absent from me. I see them written up in figures in my dreams; I see them always; in the ball-room, at the opera, in the park they are buzzing in my ears; when I wake from my troubled sleep they come rushing over me, and I start from my bed to escape them. I am not at all sure that it won't turn out to be seven thousand," candidly added Mrs. Dalrymple. "You must have dressed in silver and gold," said poor Alice. "No: only in things that cost it: such things as these," said Mrs. Dalrymple, pulling at her bonnet with both hands in irritation so passionate that it was torn in two. "Oh, pray! pray!" Alice interposed, but too late to prevent the catastrophe. "Your beautiful bonnet! Selina, it must have cost three or four guineas. What a waste!"