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"When must you go to Madame Dupuys'?" asked that lady.
"Early almost immediately. I will take a hansom and drive over."
"You need not do that; I am going out, and can drop you at madame's, and call for you afterwards."
"Oh, thank you, auntie; that will be lovely."
"I am going out immediately," said Mrs. Keith.
"Then I will run upstairs and put on my hat and jacket," said the girl.
She danced up to her room. She still felt that light, very light,
caressing touch of Keith's on her shoulder. It tingled through her being. She dressed herself quickly, and ran downstairs. Soon the elderly lady and the young were driving away together in the direction of Madame Dupuys'. Mrs. Keith's face looked troubled. Kitty glanced at it, and then looked away.
"She is thinking about Gavon, and no wonder," thought the girl.
An impulse of affection, a fellow-feeling in a mutual sorrow, caused her to place her little hand inside Mrs. Keith's. Suddenly the young pair of eyes and the old met.
"How are we to bear it?" said Kitty to his mother.
Mrs. Keith squeezed the slight hand.
"We must prove ourselves Englishwomen, Kitty," she said then. "A brave woman will always willingly give up the man she loves to the cause of his queen and his country."
"Some women are not brave," said Kitty, in a smothered voice.
They arrived at the dressmaker's, and Kitty went upstairs. She was shown into a large showroom. She wandered about restlessly. The next instant a girl appeared, and asked her if she would step into madame's private sitting-room. Fear an unreasoning fear now caused Kitty's heart to sink very low. She followed the girl. She was shown into a small, prettily-furnished room. Madame Dupuys was waiting for her.
"I am very much obliged to you, Miss Hepworth," she said, "for calling to see me so early."
"But what is the matter?" said Kitty. "Why did you send me such an alarming note? What can be wrong?"
"I am more sorry than I can say, Miss Hepworth; but even at the risk of losing your custom, it is absolutely necessary that you should pay me at least half of my bill by to-night."
"I cannot possibly do it," said the girl. "What is the matter? You told me you would give me a little time."
"I am sorry, but I am obliged to change my mind. I am pressed myself to pay a large sum pressed unexpectedly. I cannot let you have the dress for the fancy ball unless you pay me half my account."
"Oh, how terribly cruel of you! You will ruin me if you act so."
"Miss Hepworth," said the dressmaker, "I have to speak plain words; it is best to be straightforward. You have owed me a large sum of money for over two years. Mrs. Keith imagines that you do not owe me anything. If I go to her, the account will be paid at once. You owe me three hundred pounds. I shall be satisfied for the present with a cheque for half. Can you let me have a cheque for one hundred and fifty pounds to-day?"
"I cannot do it," said Kitty, in a low, terrified whisper "I cannot do it; and I must have the dress. Give me until Tuesday morning, and you shall have a cheque for three hundred. Yes, I vow it. I must have the dress; nothing else will effect my purpose. Can you not understand that there are occasions when a girl's whole future all her future may depend on one dress, worn on one special evening? Can you not understand?"
"I can partly guess to what you are alluding. Are you likely to have a proposal, Miss Hepworth? Are you likely to make a brilliant match? Do you want to fascinate some one on Monday evening? For if that is the case, and if the man is "
"Oh, think anything you like I cannot explain. You know that in a year I shall be comparatively rich; and I will pay you in full I promise it on Tuesday. Can you not wait until then? and won't you let me have my dress?"
Madame Dupuys looked at the young girl, She was sorry for her. She possessed a sufficient amount of the vanities of nature to understand that the pretty face and charming figure would look all the more taking and bewitching set out as she could set them out. Kitty's was not that simple order of beauty which needs no adornment. She looked best when she was richly apparelled, and Madame Dupuys had an artist's soul, and longed to see her own work displayed to the best advantage. Nevertheless, she was really pressed just now for just that hundred and fifty pounds which Kitty ought to have given her; and there was an American heiress who would look quite lovely in the dress she was making for Kitty, and would pay her down bank notes on the spot. Why should she wait interminably? for she did not at all believe in Kitty's promise for Tuesday night, and she absolutely wanted her money.
"I am sorry," she said at last. "I should like to oblige you, Miss Hepworth; but there is only one alternative. If you cannot let me have a cheque immediately, or at least by to-night, for one hundred and fifty pounds, I cannot let you have the new dress."
"Then you are unkind, and I hate you!" said the girl.
Madame Dupuys was not at all affected by these angry words of Kitty's.