made the dress. I hope he did. It cost enough. The ribbon was embroidered
by hand, I suppose. And there is plenty of it cut up into these bows."

There was no more to be said. Miss Belinda led the way to the coach,
which they entered under the admiring or critical eyes of several most
respectable families, who had been lying in wait behind their
window-curtains since they had been summoned there by the sound of
the wheels.

As the vehicle rattled past the boarding-school, all the young ladies in
the first class rushed to the window. They were rewarded for their zeal
by a glimpse of a cloud of muslin and lace, a charmingly dressed
yellow-brown head, and a pretty face, whose eyes favored them with a
frank stare of interest.

"She had diamonds in her ears!" cried Miss Phipps, wildly excited. "I saw
them flash. Ah, how I should like to see her without her wraps! I have no
doubt she is a perfect blaze!"




CHAPTER X.

ANNOUNCING MR. BAROLD.


Lady Theobald's invited guests sat in the faded blue drawing-room,
waiting. Everybody had been unusually prompt, perhaps because
everybody wished to be on the ground in time to see Miss Octavia