"Again, dear little friend, good-bye!" I felt bewildered, but she would not give me time to utter another syllable.

She took my hand and hurried me with her downstairs, and in another moment we were both in the drawing-room, receiving and saying polite nothings to the Everards and Challoners, who had all arrived together, resplendent in evening costume.

Amy Everard, I thought, looked a little tired and fagged, though she rejoiced in a superb "arrangement" by Worth of ruby velvet and salmon-pink.

But, though a perfect dress is consoling to most women, there are times when even that fails of its effect; and then Worth ceases to loom before the feminine eye as a sort of demi-god, but dwindles insignificantly to the level of a mere tailor, whose prices are ruinous.

And this, I think, was the state of mind in which Mrs.Everard found herself that evening; or else she was a trifle jealous of Zara's harmonious grace and loveliness.