rast, I have told you, was my
idea--novelty my object. Pink and white roses I had worn, black velvet,
too, and natural geranium-leaves, which are given to wilting fearfully;
so I cast these things all aside, and looped up my dress with pond
lilies, of a rich orange color.

Sisters, the effect was wonderful. The broad green leaves on the pink
ground, the yellow flowers clustering amongst them. The lilies of red
gold entwining my head was a picture in itself--to say nothing of the
tall and elegant young person who, as I may write, carried off the
dress.

You should have seen Cousin E. E. when I swept into the room, where she
stood ready, my pink silk rustling, my golden lilies on the high quiver,
my hair crinkled in front, curled behind, and looped up with those
yellow flowers. Sisters, her surprise was really a tribute.

I did not deign to ask her how she liked my dress. The look that
followed her first surprise was clouded with the envy she did not dare
to speak. I was seized with a desire to punish such malice, and swept up
and down the room, looking back on my train, as a peacock spreads his
tail-feathers in the sun.

E. E. looked ready to burst. She saw that her own dress was nowhere, and
resented it in angry silence. So I kept on walking slowly up and down,
in order to bring her into a reasonable state of mind, which Christian
exertion, I am sorry to say, failed.

Dempster came in, and he, too, was struck dumb with admiring surprise.
He looked at me, then at E. E., but said nothing. Still the comparison
must have been humiliating to a man who really does take some pride in
his wife.

LVII.

THE PARTY OF THE SEASON.

Dear sisters:--The carriage was full to overflowment; E. E. and I filled
it with the sumptuosity of our garments. Dempster was nowhere. Now and
then the carriage jolted his head into sight--that was all.

Mrs. Sprague lives in a great, square corner-house that looks rich and
respectable--two things that do not always come together in these days,
when people creep into society, and build themselves up there on the
property that should belong to the Government. It has some wide, jutting
windows, and plenty of room inside.

The hall-way was crowded full of ladies, and so was the stairs. Some
were going up, and some were coming down. The first in shawls and
cloaks, the others with their arms and necks uncovered, or with just a
shadow of lace on them, nothing more.

The great square cha