Family Pride; Or, Purified by SufferingHolmes, Mary Jane
General
Family Pride; Or, Purified by Suffering
Holmes, Mary Jane
American fiction; Dime novels
Meanwhile Katy had been ushered into her room, which was directly over
the library and separated from Mrs. Cameron's only by a range of closets
and presses, a portion of which were to be appropriated to her own use.
Great pains had been taken to make her rooms attractive, and as the
large bay window in the library below extended to the third story, it
was really the pleasantest chamber in the house. To Katy it was perfect,
and her first exclamation was one of delight.
"Oh, how pleasant, how beautiful," she cried, skipping across the soft
carpet to the warm fire blazing in the grate. "A bay window, too, when I
like them so much, and such handsome curtains and furniture. I shall be
happy here."
But happy as she was, Katy could not help feeling tired, and she sank
into one of the luxurious easy-chairs, wishing she could stay there all
the evening, instead of going down to that formidable dinner with her
new relations. How she dreaded it, especially when she remembered that
Mrs. Cameron had said there would be plenty of time to dress, a thing
which Katy hated, the process was so tiresome, particularly to-night.
Surely, her handsome traveling dress, made in Paris, was good enough,
and she was about settling in her own mind to venture upon wearing it,
when Esther demolished her castle at once.
"Wear your traveling habit!" she exclaimed, "when the young ladies,
especially Miss Juno, are so particular about their dinner costume?
There would be no end to the scolding I should get for suffering it. So
there's no help, you see," and she began good-naturedly to remove her
mistress' collar and pin, while Katy, standing up, sighed as she said;
"I wish I was in Silverton to-night. I could wear anything there. What
must I put on? How I dread it!" and she began to shiver again.
Fortunately for Katy, Esther had been in the family long enough to know
just what they regarded as proper, as by this means the dress selected,
a delicate pearl-colored silk was sure to please. It was very becoming
to Katy, and having been made in Paris, was not open to criticism.
Esther's taste was perfect, so that Katy was never over-dressed, and she
was very simple and pretty this night, with the rich, soft lace around
her neck and around her white, plump arms, where the golden bands were
shining.
"Very pretty, indeed," was Mrs. Cameron's verdict when at half-past five
she knocked at the door and then came in to see her daughter, kissing
her cheek and stroking her head, wholly unadorned, except by the short,
silken curls which could not be coaxed to grow faster than they chose,
and which had sometimes annoyed Wilford. They made his wife seem so
young beside him. Mrs. Cameron was annoyed, too, for she had no idea
of a head, except as it was connected with a hairdresser, and her
annoyance showed itself as she asked:
"Did you have your hair cut on purpose?"
But when Katy explained, she answered, pleasantly:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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