for a bit.... Look smart, shan't I! With a red rose in it and a red
ribbon...."

"Not going to have those streamers, or any lace, are you?"

"Not likely. You see the kids round here wearing them; but the kids
round here are always a season late. Same with their costumes. They
don't know any better. I do!"

Jenny was cheerfully contemptuous. She knew what was being worn along
Regent Street and in Bond Street, because she saw it with her own eyes.
Then she came home and saw the girls of her own district swanking about
like last year's patterns, as she said. She couldn't help laughing at
them. It made her think of the tales of savages wearing top hats with
strings of beads and thinking they were all in the latest European
fashion. That is the constant amusement of the expert as she regards the
amateur. She has all the satisfaction of knowing better, without the
turmoil of competition, a fact which distinguishes the superior spirit
from the struggling helot. Jenny took full advantage of her situation
and her knowledge.

"Yes, you know a lot," Emmy said dryly.

"Ah, you've noticed it?" Jenny was not to be gibed at without retort.
"I'm glad."

"So _you_ think," Emmy added, as though she had not heard the reply.

There came at this moment a knock at the front door. Emmy swayed, grew
pale, and then slowly reddened until the colour spread to the very edges