decide which is the
gentlemen's cloakroom, which the ladies', and wondering if they will be
able to hire enough furniture in the town to arrange a sitting-room for
the chaperons.

As May said, 'We shall have them hanging about our heels the whole
evening if we don't try to make them comfortable.'

At last the evening of the ball arrived, and, as the clocks were
striking eight, dressed and ready to start, Alice knocked at May's door.

'What! dressed already?' said May, as she leaned towards the glass,
illuminated on either side with wax candles, and looked into the
whiteness of her bosom. She wore a costume of Prussian-blue velvet and
silk; the bodice (entirely of velvet) was pointed back and front, and a
berthe of moresque lace softened the contrast between it and the cream
tints of the skin. These and the flame-coloured hair were the spirits of
the shadowy bedchamber; whereas Alice, in her white corded-silk, her
clear candid eyes, was the truer Madonna whose ancient and inferior
prototype stood on her bracket in a forgotten corner.

'Oh! how nice you look!' exclaimed May; 'I don't think I ever saw anyone
look so pure.'

Alice smiled; and, interpreting the smile, May said:

'I am afraid you don't think so much of me.'

'I am sure, May, you look very nice indeed, and just as you would like
to look.'

To May's excitable mind it was not difficult to suggest a new train of
thought, and she immediately proceeded to explain why she had chosen her
present dress.

'I knew that you, and Olive, and Violet, and Lord knows how many others
would be in white, and, as we shall all have to wear white at the
Drawing-Room, I thought I'd appear in this. But isn't the whole thing
delightful? I am engaged already for several dances, and I have been
practising the step all day with Fred.' Then, singing to herself, she
waltzed in front of the glass at the immediate risk of falling into the
bath:

'"Five-and-forty spinsters baked in a pie!
When the pie was opened the maids began to sing,
Wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the King!"

'Oh, dear, there's my garter coming down!' and, dropping on to the sofa,
the girl hitched up the treacherous article of dress. 'And tell me what
you think of my legs,' she said, advancing a pair of stately calves.
'Violet says they are too large.'

'They seem to me to be all right; but, May dear, you haven't got a
petticoat on.'

'You can't wear petticoats with t