to see
Denise on a little business? No, Cecil, my darling, you cannot go now,
and I shall bring your mamma back very soon. Be a cheerful little girl,
and you shall have her afterward."

Cecil knows that tone means obedience. She is not exactly cheerful, but
neither is she cross. They drive in Marcia's pony phaeton.

"Nothing in the world is too good for us," Mrs. Grandon says, with a
sneer. "There will be open war between her and Marcia."

"She will be likely to have a pony carriage of her own," observes
Gertrude, who resolves to mention this project to Floyd.

"Oh, yes. I suppose the economy for others, means extravagance here.
_We_ can afford it."

Gertrude makes no further comment.

Violet glances timidly at her husband's face, and sees a determination
that she is to misinterpret many times before she can read it aright.
She is not exactly happy. All this state and attention render her
nervous, it is so unlike her simple life.

"Violet," he begins, "Denise was speaking yesterday of--of----" How
shall he get to it. "There was no time to provide you any clothes,
any--You see I am not much of a lady's man. I have been out in India
and Egypt, and where they keep women shut up in harems, and never had
occasion to think much about it. I want to take you and Denise to the
city; perhaps you would go to-day?" with a man's promptness.

Violet is puzzled, alarmed, and some notion of delicacy almost leads
her to protest.

"I am too abrupt, I suppose," he says, ruefully, looking almost as
distressed as she. "But you see it is necessary."

"Then if Denise----"

He is thinking the sooner they go the better. He will not have his
mother saying she came destitute and penniless, or considering her
attire out of the way. He went once to the city with Laura, and left
her at a modiste's, and he can find it again, so he will take them
there and order all that any lady in Violet's station will require. No
one need know they have gone. It all flashes over him in an instant. He
had meant merely to make arrangements, but now he plans the trip. They
can go to Westbrook station, they can return without being seen of
prying eyes. He feels a little more sensitive on the subject because he
has so lately seen all of Laura's wedding paraphernalia. There will be
Laura, and perhaps madame to inspect her, and she must stand the test
well for her own sake. He would like to see her always in a white gown;
even that gray one was pretty the d