pictures on the walls, and there was a good fire of drift-wood and
peat upon the snow-white hearth.

Thora had just entered the room with a clean table-cloth in her hands.
Her mother gave her a quick glance of admiration and then said:

"I thought thou wert looking for Boris home tonight."

"Well, then, Mother, that is so. He said we must give him a little
dance tonight, and I have asked the girls he likes best to come here.
I thought this was known to thee. To call my words back now, will give
great disappointment."

"No need is there to call any word back. Because of thy dress I feared
there had been some word of delay. If likelihood rule, Maren and Helga
Torrie will wear the best they have."

"That is most certain, but I am not minded to outdress the Torrie
girls. Very hard it is for them to get a pretty frock, and it will
make them happy to see themselves smarter than Thora Ragnor."

"Thou should think of thyself."

"Well, I am generally uppermost in my own mind. Also, in Edinburgh I
was told that the hostess must not outdress her guests."

"Edinburgh and Kirkwall are not in the same latitude. Keep mind of
that. Step forward and let me look at thee."

So Thora stood up before her mother, and the light from the window
fell all over her, and she was beautiful from head to feet. Tall and
slender, with a great quantity of soft brown hair very loosely
arranged on the crown of her head; a forehead broad and white;
eyebrows, plentiful and well arched; starlike blue eyes, with a large,
earnest gaze and an oval face tinted like a rose. Oh! why try to
describe a girl so lovely? It is like pulling a rose to pieces. It is
easier to say that she was fleshly perfect and that, being yet in her
eighteenth year, she had all the bloom of opening flowers, and all
their softness and sweetness.

Apparently she owed little to her dress, and yet it would have
been difficult to choose anything more befitting her, for though it
was only of wine-coloured cashmere, it was made with a plain
picturesqueness that rendered it most effective. The short sleeves
then worn gave to her white arms the dark background that made them
a fascination; the high waist, cut open in front to a point, was
filled in with white satin, over which it was laced together with a
thin silk cord of the same colour as the dress. A small lace collar
completed the toilet, and for the occasion, it was perfect;
anything added to it would have made it imperfect.