"You really do look ever so pretty," asserted Cora.

"I wonder if I look as well as I did the last time I heard I was
pretty," said the other. "That was at the Assembly in March.
Coming down the stairs, I heard a man from out of town say, `That
black-haired Miss Madison is a pretty girl.' And some one with him
said, `Yes; you'll think so until you meet her sister!'"

"You are an old dear!" Cora enfolded her delightedly; then,
drawing back, exclaimed: "You _know_ he's gorgeous!" And with a
feverish little ripple of laughter, caught her dress together in
the back and sped through the hall to her own room.

This was a very different affair from Laura's, much cooler and
larger; occupying half the width of the house; and a rather
expensive struggle had made it pretty and even luxurious. The
window curtains and the wall-paper were fresh, and of a quiet
blue; there was a large divan of the same colour; a light desk,
prettily equipped, occupied a corner; and between two gilt
gas-brackets, whose patent burners were shielded by fringed silk
shades, stood a cheval-glass six feet high. The door of a very
large clothes-pantry stood open, showing a fine company of
dresses, suspended from forms in an orderly manner; near by, a
rosewood cabinet exhibited a delicate collection of shoes and
slippers upon its four shelves. A dressing-table, charmingly
littered with everything, took the place of a bureau; and upon it,
in a massive silver frame, was a large photograph of Mr. Richard
Lindley. The frame was handsome, but somewhat battered: it had
seen service. However, the photograph was quite new.