Then Laddie came, fresh from a tubbing, starched linen, dressed in his new riding suit, and wearing top hat and gauntlets.

He looked the very handsomest I ever had seen him; and at the same time, he seemed trembling with tenderness, and bursting with power.

Goodness sake! I bet the Princess took one good look and "came down" like Davy Crockett's coon.
Mother was on his arm and she walked clear to the gate with him.
"LADDIE, ARE YOU SURE ENOUGH TO GO ?" I heard her ask him whisper-like.
"SURE AS DEATH!" Laddie answered.
Mother looked, and she had to see how it was with him; no doubt she saw more than I did from having been through it herself, so she smiled kind of a half-sad, half-glad smile.

Then she turned to her damask rose bush, the one Lucy brought her from the city, and that she was so precious about, that none of us dared touch it, and she searched all over it and carefully selected the most perfect rose.

When she borrowed Laddie's knife and cut the stem as long as my arm, I knew exactly how great and solemn the occasion was; for always before about six inches had been her limit.