Lesbia looked at it aghast with horror. The total at the foot of the
first page was appalling, ever so much more than she could have supposed
the whole amount of her indebtedness; but the total went on increasing
at the foot of every page, until at sight of the final figures Lesbia
gave a wild shriek, like a wretched creature who has received a telegram
announcing bitterest loss.
The final total was twelve hundred and ninety-three pounds seventeen and
sixpence!
Thirteen hundred pounds for clothes in eight weeks!
No, the thing was a cheat, a mistake. They had sent her somebody else's
bill. She had not had half these things.
She read the first page, her heart beating violently as she pored over
the figures, her eyes dim and clouded with the trouble of her brain.
Yes, there was her court dress. The description was too minute to be
mistaken; and the court dress, with feathers, and shoes, and gloves, and
fan, came to a hundred and thirty pounds. Then followed innumerable
items. The very simplest of her gowns cost five-and-twenty
pounds--frocks about which Seraphine had talked so carelessly, as if two
or three more or less could make no difference.
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