e looked at her from head to
foot, and gave a little pull to her skirt with a doubtful air. "It
doesn't sit, does it?" he said; "can't you pin it, or something, to make
it come better?"

This, it need not be said, was a foolish piece of ignorance on Sir Tom's
part, and as Miss Fletcher, Lucy's maid, thought, "just like a man."
Fletcher was for the moment not well-disposed towards Sir Tom. She
said--"Oh no, Sir Thomas, my lady don't hold with pins. Some ladies may
that are all for effect; but my lady, that is not her way."

Sir Tom felt that these words inclosed a dart as sharp as any pin, and
directed at himself; but he took no notice. He walked round his wife,
eyeing her on every side; and then he gave a little pull to her hair as
he had done to her dress. "After all," he said, "it is some time since
you left school, Lucy. Why this simplicity? I want you to look your best
to-night."

"But, dear Tom," said Lucy, "you always say that I am not to be
over-dressed."

"I don't want you to be under-dressed; there is plenty of time. Don't
you think you might do a little more in the way of toilette? Put on some
lace or something; Fletcher will know. Look here, Fletcher, I want Lady
Randolph to look very well to-night. Don't you think this get-up would
stand improvement? I dare say you could do it with ribbons, or
something. We must not have her look like my grandchild, you know."

Upon which Fletcher, somewhat mollified and murmuring that Sir Thomas
was a gentleman that would always have his joke, answered boldly that
_that_ was not how she would have dressed her lady had she had the doing
of it. "But I know my place," Fletcher said, "though to see my lady
like this always goes against me, Sir Thomas, and especially with
foreigners in the house that are always dressed up to the nines and
don't think of nothing else. But if Lady Randolph would wear her blue it
could all be done in five minutes, and look far nicer and more like the
lady of the house."

This transfer was finally made, for Lucy had no small obstinacies and
was glad to please her husband. The "blue" was of the lightest tint of
shimmering silk, and gave a little background of colour, upon which
Lucy's fairness and whiteness stood out. Sir Thomas always took an
interest in his wife's dress; but it was seldom he occupied himself so
much about it. It was he who went to the conservatory to get a flower
for her hair. He took her downstairs upon his arm "as if they