my sister Jo’s; I am seventeen in August,« returned Meg, tossing her head.
»It’s very nice of him to send you flowers, isn’t it?« said Annie, looking wise about nothing.
»Yes, he often does, to all of us, for their house is full, and we are so fond of them. My mother and old Mr. Laurence are friends, you know, so it is quite natural that we children should play together,« and Meg hoped they would say no more.
»It’s evident Daisy isn’t out yet,« said Miss Clara to Belle with a nod.
»Quite a pastoral state of innocence all round,« returned Miss Belle with a shrug.
»I’m going out to get some little matters for my girls. Can I do anything for you, young ladies?« asked Mrs. Moffat, lumbering in like an elephant in silk and lace.
»No, thank you, ma’am,« replied Sallie. »I’ve got my new pink silk for Thursday and don’t want a thing.«
»Nor I...« began Meg, but stopped because it occurred to her that she did want several things and could not have them.
»What shall you wear?« asked Sallie.
»My old white one again, if I can mend it fit to be seen, it got sadly torn last night,« said Meg, trying to speak quite easily, but feeling very uncomfortable.
»Why don’t you send home for another?« said Sallie, who was not an observing young lady.
»I haven’t got any other.« It cost Meg an effort to say that, but Sallie did not see it and exclaimed in amiable surprise, »Only that? How funny...« She did not finish her speech, for Belle shook her head at her and broke in, saying kindly...
»Not at all. Where is the use of having a lot of dresses when she isn’t out yet? There’s no need of sending home, Daisy, even if you had a dozen, for I’ve got a sweet blue silk laid away, which I’ve outgrown, and you shall wear it to please me, won’t you, dear?«
»You are very kind, but I don’t mind my old dress if you don’t, it does well enough for a little girl like me,« said Meg.
»Now do let me please myself by dressing you up in style. I admire to do it, and you’d be a regular little beauty with a touch here and there. I shan’t let anyone see you till you are done, and then we’ll burst upon them like Cinderella and her godmother going to the ball,« said Belle in her persuasive tone.
Meg couldn’t refuse the offer so kindly made, for a desire to see if she would be ›a little beauty‹ after touching up caused her to accept and forget all her former uncomfortable feelings toward the Moffats.
On the Thursday evening, Belle shut herself up with her maid, and between them they turned Meg into a fine lady. They crimped and curled her hair, they polished her neck and arms with some fragrant powder, touched her lips with coralline salve to make them redder, and Hortense would have added ›a soupcon of rouge‹, if Meg had not rebelled. They laced her into a sky-blue dress, which was so tight she could hardly breathe and so low in the neck that modest Meg blushed at herself in the mirror. A set of silver filagree was added, bracelets, necklace, brooch, and even earrings, for Hortense tied them on with a bit of pink silk which did not show. A cluster of tea-rose buds at the bosom, and a ruche, reconciled Meg to the display of her pretty, white shoulders, and a pair of high-heeled silk boots satisfied the last wish of her heart. A lace handkerchief, a plumy fan, and a bouquet in a shoulder holder finished her off, and Miss Belle surveyed her with the satisfaction of a little girl with a newly dressed doll.
»Mademoiselle is charmante, tres jolie, is she not?« cried Hortense, clasping her hands in an affected rapture.
»Come and show yourself,« said Miss Belle, leading the way to the room where the others were waiting.
As Meg went rustling after, with her long skirts trailing, her earrings tinkling, her curls waving, and her heart beating, she felt as if her fun had really begun at last, for the mirror had plainly told her that she was ›a little beauty‹. Her friends repeated the pleasing phrase enthusiastically, and for several minutes she stood, like a jackdaw in the fable, enjoying her borrowed plumes, while the rest chattered like a party of magpies.
»While I dress, do you drill her, Nan, in the management of her skirt and those French heels, or she will trip herself up. Take your silver butterfly, and catch up that long curl on the left side of her head, Clara, and don’t any of you disturb the charming work of my hands,« said Belle, as she hurried away, looking well pleased with her success.
»You don’t look a bit like yourself, but you are very nice. I’m nowhere beside you, for Belle has heaps of taste, and you’re quite French, I assure you. Let your flowers hang, don’t be so careful of them, and be sure you don’t trip,« returned Sallie, trying not to care that Meg was prettier than herself.
Keeping that warning carefully in mind, Margaret got safely down stairs and sailed into the drawing rooms where the Moffats and a few early guests were assembled. She very soon discovered that there is a charm about fine clothes which attracts a certain class of people and secures their respect. Several young ladies, who had taken no notice of her before, were very affectionate all of a sudden. Several young gentlemen, who had only stared at her at the other party, now not only stared, but asked to be introduced, and said all manner of foolish but agreeable things to her, and several old ladies, who sat on the sofas, and criticized the rest of the party, inquired who she was with an air of interest. She heard Mrs. Moffat reply to one of them...
»Daisy March—father a colonel in the army—one of our first families, but reverses of fortune, you know; intimate friends of the Laurences; sweet creature, I assure you; my Ned is quite wild about her.«
»Dear me!« said the old lady, putting up her glass for another observation of Meg, who tried to look as if she had not heard and been rather shocked at Mrs. Moffat’s fibs. The ›queer feeling‹ did not pass away, but she imagined herself acting the new part of fine lady and so got on pretty well, though the tight dress gave her a side-ache, the train kept getting under her feet, and she was in constant fear lest her earrings should fly off and get lost or broken. She was flirting her fan and laughing at the feeble jokes of a young gentleman who tried to be witty, when she suddenly stopped laughing and looked confused, for just opposite, she saw Laurie. He was staring at her with undisguised surprise, and disapproval also, she thought, for though he bowed and smiled, yet something in his honest eyes made her blush and wish she had her old dress on. To complete her confusion, she saw Belle nudge Annie, and both glance from her to Laurie, who, she was happy to see, looked unusually boyish and shy.
»Silly creatures, to put such thoughts into my head. I won’t care for it, or let it change me a bit,« thought Meg, and rustled across the room to shake hands with her friend.
»I’m glad you came, I was afraid you wouldn’t.« she said, with her most grown-up air.
»Jo wanted me to come, and tell her how you looked, so I did,« answered Laurie, without turning his eyes upon her, though he half smiled at her maternal tone.
»What shall you tell her?« asked Meg, full of curiosity to know his opinion of her, yet feeling ill at ease with him for the first time.
»I shall say I didn’t know you, for you look so grown-up and unlike yourself, I’m quite afraid of you,« he said, fumbling at his glove button.
»How absurd of you! The girls dressed me up for fun, and I rather like it. Wouldn’t Jo stare if she saw me?« said Meg, bent on making him say whether he thought her improved or not.
»Yes, I think she would,« returned Laurie gravely.
»Don’t you like me so?« asked Meg.
»No, I don’t,« was the blunt reply.
»Why not?« in an anxious tone.
He glanced at her frizzled head, bare shoulders, and fantastically trimmed dress with an expression that abashed her more than his answer, which had not a particle of his usual politeness in it.
»I don’t like fuss and feathers.«