up every feature,
and which brought a certain lovely dimple into play.

And there was one other thing noticeable in Audrey, and which brought
the sisters into still sharper contrast. She was lamentably deficient in
taste, and, though personally neat, was rather careless on the subject
of dress. She liked an old gown better than a new one, was never quite
sure which colour suited her best, and felt just as happy paying a round
of calls in an old cambric as in the best tailor-made gown. It was on
this subject that she and Geraldine differed most. No amount of spoken
wisdom could make Audrey see that she was neglecting her opportunities
to a culpable degree; that while other forms of eccentricity might be
forgiven, the one unpardonable sin in Geraldine's code was Audrey's
refusal to make the best of herself.

'And you do look so nice when you are well dressed,' she observed with
mournful affection on one occasion when Audrey had specially
disappointed her. 'You have a beautiful figure--Madame Latouche said so
herself--and yet you would wear that hideous gown Miss Sewell has made,
and at Mrs. Charrington's "at home," too.'

'How many people were affected by this sad occurrence?' asked Audrey
scornfully. 'My dear Gage, your tone is truly tragical. Was it my
clothes or me--poor little me!--that Mrs. Charrington invited and wanted
to see? Do you know, Michael,' for that young man was present, 'I have
such a grand idea for the future; a fashion to come in with Wagner's
music, and aesthetics, and female lawyers--in fact, an advanced theory
worthy of the nineteenth century. You know how people hate "at homes,"
and how bored they are, and how they grumble at the crush and the
crowd.'

'Well, I do believe they are hideous products of civilisation,' he
returned with an air of candour.

'Just so; well, now for my idea. Oh, I must send it to _Punch_, I really
must. My proposition is that people should send their card by their
lady's-maid, and also the toilette intended for that afternoon, to be
inspected by the hostess. Can you not imagine the scene? First comes the
announcement by the butler: "Lady Fitzmaurice's clothes." Enter smiling
lady's-maid, bearing a wondrously braided skirt with plush mantle and
bonnet with pheasant's wing. Hostess bows, smiles, and inspects garments
through her eyeglasses. "Charming! everything Lady Fitzmaurice wears is
in such perfect taste. My dear Cecilia, that bonnet would just suit
me--make a not