hem."

The maid unwillingly obeyed; and soon the room--bed, sofa, chairs--was
covered with costly gowns, for all hours of the day and night:
walking-dresses, in autumn stuffs and colors, ready for the moors and
stubbles; afternoon frocks of an elaborate simplicity, expensively
girlish; evening dresses in an amazing variety of hue and fabric; with
every possible adjunct in the way of flowers, gloves, belt, that
dressmakers and customer could desire.

Alicia looked at it all with glowing cheeks. She reflected that she had
really spent the last check she had made her father give her to very
great Advantage. There were very few people of her acquaintance, girls
or married women, who knew how to get as much out of money as she did.

In her mind she ran over the list of guests invited to the Eastham
party, as her new friend Lady Evelyn had confided it to her. Nothing
could be smarter, but the competition among the women would be terribly
keen. "Of course, I can't touch duchesses," she thought, laughing to
herself, "or American millionaires. But I shall do!"

And her mind ran forward in a dream of luxury and delight. She saw
herself sitting or strolling in vast rooms amid admiring groups; mirrors
reflected her; she heard the rustle of her gowns on parquet or marble,
the merry sound of her own laughter; other girls threw her the incense
of their envy and imitation; and men, fresh and tanned from shooting,
breathing the joy of physical life, devoted themselves to her pleasure,
or encircled her with homage. Not always chivalrous, or delicate, or
properly behaved--these men of her imagination! What matter? She loved
adventures! And moving like a king among the rest, she saw the thin,
travel-beaten, eccentric form of Lord Philip--the hated, adored,
pursued; Society's idol and bugbear all in one; Lord Philip, who shunned
and disliked women; on whom, nevertheless, the ambitions and desires of
some of the loveliest women in England were, on that account alone, and
at this moment of his political triumph, the more intently and the more
greedily fixed.

A flash of excitement ran through her. In Lady Evelyn's letter of that
morning there was a mention of Lord Philip. "I told him you were to be
here. He made a note of it, and I do at last believe he won't throw us
over, as he generally does."

She dressed, still in a reverie, speechless under her maid's hands.
Then, as she emerged upon the gallery, looking down upon the ugly hall
o