oned from the country town to take
measurements for a dainty white dress and hat to match. The dress was
made to reach right down to the ankles, in deference to Lady Hayes's
ideas of propriety, and Darsie felt prodigiously fine and grown-up as
she peacocked about before the long glass of her bedroom wardrobe on the
day of the garden-party itself. Never in her life before had she
possessed a gown made by an expert dressmaker, and the result was
surprisingly flattering. She expatiated on the same with a candour
startling to the audience of aunt and her maid.

"Don't I look s-weet? So slim! I'd no idea I was such a nice shape. I
don't know which looks nicest, the frock on me or me in the frock!
Aren't I tall? Isn't it graceful when I stand like this, and show the
pleats? The hat's a duck! I must say I do look most scrumptiously
nice!"

"My dear!" Lady Hayes looked both shocked and alarmed. "My dear, how
_can_ you? I shall begin to regret my purchases if they encourage a
spirit of vanity. I was always taught to allow others to praise me and
to keep silent myself."

"But you _thought_ all the time, Aunt Maria, you couldn't help thinking,
and it's worse to bottle it up. I'm always quite candid on the subject
of my appearance," returned Darsie calmly. "On principle! Why should
you speak the truth on every other subject, and humbug about that? When
I've a plain fit I know it, and grovel accordingly, and when I'm nice
I'm as pleased as Punch. I _am_ nice to-day, thanks to you and Mason,
and if other people admire me, why shouldn't I admire myself? I _like_
to admire myself! It's like the cocoa advertisements, `grateful and
comforting.' Honest Ingin, Aunt Maria! Didn't _you_ admire yourself
when you saw yourself in the glass _in_ that ducky grey bonnet?"

Evidently the question hit home, for Lady Hayes made a swift change of
front.

"My dear, my dear, moderate your language! Your expressions are
unsuitable for a young gentlewoman. You are growing up. Try, I beg, to
cultivate a more ladylike demeanour!"

Darsie made a little face at the charming reflection in the glass, the
which Lady Hayes wisely affected not to see, and presently aunt and
niece were seated side by side in the big old barouche, forming one of a
concourse of vehicles which were converging together out of every cross
road, and turning in a seemingly endless string in the direction of the
Hall. Shut carriages, open carriages, motors