STEVEN. I forgot about the ball.

GEORGIANA. I can tell you one person who hasn't, and that's mother!

COAST. [_Laughing._] Is she going to be corking?

GEORGIANA. [_Sitting in the arm-chair by the sofa._] If the Grand Duke
were a bachelor and mother had designs upon him, she couldn't possibly
take more pains! She's going to be beyond all words. She's got every
jewel she owns and can borrow draped about her, till she looks like
Tiffany's exhibit at the St. Louis Fair. And as for her hair, she's had
Bella Shindle working on it all afternoon, till it's the Titianest
Titian that ever flamed on human head!

COAST. Sounds great!

[_Sitting on the bench._ STEVEN _sits on the sofa._

GEORGIANA. Wait! She's built her tiara up with a breastpin and an
aigrette off my winter hat, and it was all I could do to keep her from
wearing the three feathers in which she was presented to the Queen in
A.D. '73.

[_They all laugh good-naturedly._

COAST. Aunt Laura's a corker!

GEORGIANA. Well, no one will miss her! She'll get the Grand Duke's eye
if no one else does! I tell her she'll go through the ballroom like a