minine
interest in the manner in which she fingered each delicate fabric in
turn, there was pure feminine kindness in the little pat on the arm
which announced the close of the inspection.

"My dear, it's ripping! Rich and rare isn't in it. You look a dream.
Poor kiddie! If this is the sort of thing you've been used to, it's
been harder for you than I thought! Yes, horribly unsuitable, and when
it's worn-out, you'll never be able to have another like it. White
ponge will be your next effort."

"Bless your heart, I've three others just as fine, and these skimpy
skirts last for an age. No chance of any one planting a great foot on
the folds and tearing them to ribbons as in the old days. There _are_
no folds to tread on."

But Cecil as usual was ready with her croak.

"Next year," she said darkly, "there will be flounces. Before you have
a chance of wearing your four dresses, everybody will be fussy and
frilly, and they'll be hopelessly out of date."

"Then I'll cut up two and turn them into flounces to fuss out the
others!" cried Claire, the optimist, and gave another caper from sheer
lightness of heart. "How do you like my feet?"

"I suppose you mean shoes. A pretty price you paid for those. I'm sure
they're too tight!"

"Boats, my dear, boats! I've had to put in a sole. Didn't you know my
feet were so small? How do you like my cloak? It's meant to look like
a cloud. Layers of blue, pink and grey, `superimposed,' as the fashion
papers have it. Or should you say it was more like an opal?"

"No, I should not. Neither one nor the other. Considered as a cloak
for a foggy November evening, I should call it a delusion and a fraud.
You'll get a chill. I've a Shetland shawl. I'll lend it to you to wrap
round your shoulders."

"No, you won't!" Claire cried defiantly. "Shetland shawl indeed! Who
ever heard of a girl of twenty-one in a Shetland shawl? I'm going to a
party, my dear. The joy of that thought would keep me warm through a
dozen fogs."

"You'll have to come back from the party, however, and you mayn't feel
so jubilant then. It's not too exciting when you don't know a soul, and
sit on one seat all evening. I knew a girl who went to a big crush and
didn't even get a cup of coffee. Nobody asked her to go down."

Claire swept her cloak to one side, and sat down on a chair facing the
sofa, her white gloves clasped on her knee, the embroidered bag hanging
by its golden cords to the t