“Oh, do! She has a new gown that would arouse the envy of Dr. Mary Walker. All chiffon, spangles, embroidery and—” “I know. My story has reference to that very gown. You know how very mysterious she always is about her new things!” “M’hm. As if anybody cared to know about them! Do tell me if her waist is made—” “Well, I—you see, it was this way: I knew she was having her new gown made at Madame’s, and I accidentally discovered that she was to be fitted on Friday at two.” “Oh, I see. Then, you called upon Frances at one o’clock, thinking that she’d take you along, rather than risk offending Madame by being late?” “No; Frances isn’t afraid of Madame—she doesn’t owe her anything. I just happened in at Madame’s at half-past two. They told me she was busy, but I said I knew she wouldn’t mind if I stepped into the fitting-room for a minute, as I had a letter from Paris and wanted to tell her all about the new skirts.” “Oh, you clever thing!” “Yes. So in I bounced, and there stood Frances, all in billowy waves of turquoise blue and—” “But I thought her new gown was green and white, with—” “And you should have seen how sweetly she smiled. So sweetly that I knew she was wild with rage!” “But did you make it right with the Madame? Did—” “Pretended that I must have left the Paris letter at home, and told her I’d fetch it the next day. Then, after a good, long look at Frances, I came away and—” “And ran in to tell all the other girls how her new gown was made?” “M’hm. Annie first: you know, she hasn’t a bit of originality and she said, at once, that she’d have her new one just like it. Then, I dropped in at Evelyn’s tea and—” “Told all the others, too. M’hm.” “Yes. But what do you think that cat, Frances, had done? She’d been there before me and told them all that I had come into the fitting-room out of sheer curiosity—I curious, the idea! And the gown she was trying on was not her own, after all, she said, but one about which Madame had asked her opinion and—” “Gracious, do you suppose that was the truth?” “Alas, I know it;” groaned the blue-eyed girl, “it belonged to Jack’s sister, Effie! Now, Effie detests Annie and when she sees her in a gown which is an exact reproduction of her own, she will—” “Won’t she, though? Well, my dear, Effie was an unknown quantity before, but now you may depend upon one thing—she will use any influence she may have with Jack against you.” “True. And all because of such a silly thing, too! But, then, people are so frivolous. Well, you will join my new club, won’t you?” “Mercy, yes. You had better invite Frances, too; she will tell Effie all about it, and the first time Effie is offended with Jack, she will tell him, thinking to annoy you both—” “I shall, though it is hardly necessary, either, for, once started, everybody will talk of nothing else. But, whatever you do, don’t tell Dick a word about it. Evelyn’s husband is sure to tell him, anyhow, and then he can’t say that women never keep secrets.”