“Oh, Anna, Anna, how can you say such things of yourself? I would not let any one else say them of you, Anna! Why, Anna, you know you moved through your grandfather’s halls that night a perfect queen of beauty. There was no one who could at all equal or approach you!” “Nonsense, I say! I overheard several people say that I was not looking so well as usual—that I had seen my best days, and so forth.” “They were envious and spiteful people whom you had eclipsed, Anna, and, if _I_ had heard them, I should have given them to know it!” “_You_, you little pigeon, can you peck?” laughed Anna. “Pigeons can peck, and sharply too, I assure you. And I should have pecked any one whom I heard saying impertinent things of you; but I heard nothing of the sort—I heard only praises and admiration. But there! I declare you ought not to disparage yourself so as to oblige me to tell the truth about you to your face, for, in this case, truth is high praise, and it is perfectly odious to have to praise a friend to her face,” said Drusilla. “I agree with you. So, if you will let me have the last word and say that you really _were_ the beauty of our ball, I will consent to drop the subject. And now for the other one! So you would like to go to the Seymours?” “Yes, very much, for I enjoy parties. I do not think I should like to go to one every day or even every week; but once or twice a month I really should enjoy them.” “What a moderate little belle! Well, and now comes the next important question. What are we to wear? Unluckily we cannot order the carriage and drive down the street to the most fashionable modistes and inspect the newest styles of dress goods and head-dresses and all that, as if we were in the city. We are in the country, and must make our toilet from what we have got in the house. Heigh ho! it is a great bore, being so far away from shops.” “But, oh, Anna, we have got so much in the house. Think of your magnificent trousseau, with scarcely one of your many dresses touched yet.” “That is all very well. But you know they were made and trimmed between two and six months ago; and every week something new in the way of trimmings and head-dresses comes up in town. However, we must do the best we can. It is a country ball and all the guests will be in the same case, that is one comfort.” “Not one of them will be so well off as you are with your trousseau.” “That is true, and that is another comfort, a very selfish one however. Well, let me see, I think I will wear my light blue taffeta, with a white illusion over it, looped up with bluebells and lilies of the valley, with a wreath of the same. How will that do?” “It will be very pretty and tasteful.” “And you, my darling? What have you to wear? You know my dresses fit you, and my wardrobe is quite at your service.”