d such extravagances? Had the
silly little thing ordered, and never _asked_? Was it my fault for
having given the address? Could I have helped doing so, when I was
asked? I _had_ said she was expensive. It was some small comfort to
remember that, and Charmion would say it was no concern of mine. A
dozen such disconcerting thoughts raced through my mind, but I shook
them off, and said heartily:--

"It is lovely! _You_ are lovely! I had no idea you were such a beauty.
What does your husband say?"

Her face clouded.

"Nothing. Doesn't notice. Likes me as much in an old print. But
I--_love_ it! Oh, you don't know what bliss it is to feel `finished
off'. Everything new, good, pretty, and to match!" She gave a rapid
swirling movement of the hand to call my attention to such details as
shoes and stockings, embroidered bag, and glorified garden hat. "It's
nothing to _you_. You have had them all your life, but I have only
longed and--_starved_!"

She spoke with a passionate emphasis, which to many people would seem
out of all keeping with the subject; but I am young, and a girl, so I
understood. There are many empty-headed women in whom the craving for
pretty things is as strong as the masculine craving for drink and cards.
Circumstances have compelled these women to wear the plainest, most
useful of clothes, while every shop window shows a tantalising display
of colour and beauty, and other women not half so pretty as themselves
bloom with a borrowed radiance!

No mere man can understand the inborn feminine joy in the feel of fine
smooth fabric, nor the blending of delicate colours, the dainty ruffling
of lace. To the rich these things come as a matter of course, and the
working classes are satisfied with garish imitations; it is the poor
gentlewoman with the cultivated taste, the cultivated longing for
beauty, to whom temptation comes in its keenest form. It had come to
Delphine, and she had succumbed. I devoutly hoped and prayed that the
shock of the coming bill would prevent further extravagances!

Charmion and I took charge of the Treasure Hunt. We had given the
treasures, which were laboriously chosen with a view to suitability.
Umbrellas (lashed flat to the trunks of trees!) bags, photograph frames,
writing cases, boxes of handkerchiefs, chocolate, cigarettes, scent,
and--this was a cunning idea!--cash orders on a big London store.

There was a great rush for tickets, and the Vicar--very flurr