The gown, devised especially for the early morning, was simplicity
itself--rusticity, even. It was a Dresden shepherdess gown, made of a
soft flowered stuff, with roses and forget-me-nots on a creamy ground.
There was a great deal of creamy lace, and innumerable yards of palest
azure and palest rose ribbon in the confection, and there was a
coquettish little hat, the regular Dresden hat, with a wreath of
rosebuds.
'Dresden china incarnate!' exclaimed Smithson, as he welcomed Lady
Lesbia on the threshold of his marble hall, under the glass marquise
which sheltered arrivals at his door. 'Why do you make yourself so
lovely? I shall want to keep you in one of my Louis Seize cabinets, with
the rest of my Dresden!'
Lady Kirkbank had considered the occasion suitable for one of her
favourite cotton frocks and rustic hats--a Leghorn hat, with clusters Of
dog-roses and honeysuckle, and a trail of the same hedge-flowers to
fasten her muslin fichu.
Mr. Smithson's house in Park Lane was simply perfect. It is wonderful
what good use a _parvenu_ can make of his money nowadays, and how rarely
he disgraces himself by any marked offences against good taste.
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