It was not a very good bargain; but she closed with it in lieu of a
better opening; and when, in a few weeks from the date of her aunt's
tea-party, she would be free to earn her living in her own way, she
would be able to defray the expense to which that same aunt had been put
during her time of apprenticeship.

* * * * *

So rapid is thought that between the beginning and ending of the task of
changing her outdoor shoes and stockings for slightly better ones,
Antonia's quick mind had flashed back over those years which had, so she
owned to herself, made all the difference; but not for worlds would she
have let her cousin know that she recognized any such difference.

"Different! Not a bit of it!" She looked up and spoke with more warmth
than usual. "And as for the boys liking me--well, you're engaged, and
I'm not!"

"Well, yes, there is that to be said!" Fanny regarded with affection the
cheap gold ring, set with imitation rubies, which adorned her plump
hand. "But you know, Toni, you could got Mr. Dowson any minute if you
tried!"

"Mr. Dowson!" Toni, occupied in brushing out her black hair, tossed her
head with a little foreign gesture peculiar to her. "Why, Fan, how could
I marry Mr. Dowson! He's very nice, and good-hearted, but his chest is
narrow, and he's going bald!"

"Well, that's not his fault," returned Fanny practically, "and it's not
with age either, because he's quite young. I expect it's with studying
so hard."

"I daresay--but still ... of course he's clever," owned Toni rather
grudgingly, "he must be, to be a dentist, but--no, Fan, I'm not going to
marry Mr. Dowson, so there!"

"Oh, all right." Fanny was a philosopher. "You know your own business
best. Will you do me up, dear, and tell me how you like my frock? I
think myself it's rather striking."

Thus besought, Toni stuck the last pin-casually in her hair and came to
give her assistance in the matter of "doing up."

Miss Frances Gibbs' dress was composed of a bright rose-pink voile,
bought cheaply at a sale, ornamented with a sash of ribbon of an equally
vivid hue of violet; and striking it certainly was, in the sense that
one felt inclined to collapse at sight of it. Miss Gibbs' figure being
of the order which dressmakers call "full," the effect was distinctly
startling; and as Fanny had carefully arranged her abundant hair in as
many rolls as she could possibly manage, it is to be inferred that she
presen