t much more
than she could afford, were always beautiful. Her taste was so great,
her tact so sure, that she was able to make the most of herself. She
was determined that if people called her ugly they should be forced
in the same breath to confess that she was perfectly gowned. Susie's
talent for dress was remarkable, and it was due to her influence that
Margaret was arrayed always in the latest mode. The girl's taste inclined
to be artistic, and her sense of colour was apt to run away with her
discretion. Except for the display of Susie's firmness, she would
scarcely have resisted her desire to wear nondescript garments of
violent hue. But the older woman expressed herself with decision.

'My dear, you won't draw any the worse for wearing a well-made corset,
and to surround your body with bands of grey flannel will certainly not
increase your talent.'

'But the fashion is so hideous,' smiled Margaret.

'Fiddlesticks! The fashion is always beautiful. Last year it was
beautiful to wear a hat like a pork-pie tipped over your nose; and
next year, for all I know, it will be beautiful to wear a bonnet like
a sitz-bath at the back of your head. Art has nothing to do with a smart
frock, and whether a high-heeled pointed shoe commends itself or not to
the painters in the quarter, it's the only thing in which a woman's foot
looks really nice.'

Susie Boyd vowed that she would not live with Margaret at all unless she
let her see to the buying of her things.

'And when you're married, for heaven's sake ask me to stay with you four
times a year, so that I can see after your clothes. You'll never keep
your husband's affection if you trust to your own judgment.'

Miss Boyd's reward had come the night before, when Margaret, coming home
from dinner with Arthur, had repeated an observation of his.

'How beautifully you're dressed!' he had said. 'I was rather afraid you'd
be wearing art-serges.'

'Of course you didn't tell him that I insisted on buying every stitch
you'd got on,' cried Susie.

'Yes, I did,' answered Margaret simply. 'I told him I had no taste at
all, but that you were responsible for everything.'

'That was the least you could do,' answered Miss Boyd.

But her heart went out to Margaret, for the trivial incident showed once
more how frank the girl was. She knew quite well that few of her friends,
though many took advantage of her matchless taste, would have made such
an admission to the lover who congratula