Everything went wrong.

The costume which the French maid had so deftly fitted upon her that morning refused to be adjusted properly.

The fastenings baffled her, and finally a hook at the back took firm hold of the lawn of her sleeve and maliciously refused to be disentangled therefrom.
Dinah struggled for freedom for some minutes till the lawn began to tear, and then at last she became desperate.

"Billy must do it," she said, and almost in tears she threw open the door and ran down the passage.
Billy's room was round a corner, and this end of the corridor was dim.

As she turned it, she almost collided with a figure coming in the opposite direction--a boyish-looking figure in evening dress which she instantly took for Billy.
"Oh, there you are!" she exclaimed.