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Show J.'.u.t. ,•t ISllb 1lose anb $IIIler and a movement of one eyelid which was almost-but not quite-a wink . Presently the three other guests came in, followed by the Colonel. Madame Francesca was in white silk over which violets had been scattered with a lavish hand, then woven into the shining fabric. She wore violets in her hair and at her belt, and a single amethyst at her throat. Isabel was in white, with flounces of spangled lace, and Rose was unusually lovely in a gown of old gold satin and a necklace of palest topaz. In her dark hair was a single yellow rose. Juliet was for the moment aghast at so much magnificence and painfully conscious of her own white muslin gown. Madame Francesca, reading her thought, drew the girl's tall head down and kissed her. "What a clover blossom you are," she said, "all in freshest white, with pink cheeks and sunshiny curls!" Thus fortified, Juliet did not mind Isabel's instinctive careful appraisement of her gown, and she missed, happily, the evident admiration with which Romeo's eyes followed Isabel's every movement. "Why didn't you tell me?" Allison was asking Rose, "so I could have ransacked the town for golden roses?" "I 've repeatedly done it myself," laughed Rose, "without success. I usually save my yellow gowns for June when all the yellow lteeptng tbe taitb rose bushes in the garden may lavish their wealth upon me." "Happy rose," Allison returned, lightly," to die in so glorious a cause." The twins were almost at the point of starvation when dinner was announced, though they had partaken liberally of bread and butter and jam just before leaving home. Romeo had complained a little but had not been sufficiently Spartan to refuse the offered refreshment. "I don't see why you want to feed me now and spoil my dinner," he grumbled, as he reached out for a second slice. "I don't want to spoil your dinner," Juliet had answered, with her mouth full. "Can't you see I'm eating, too? We don't want to be impolite when we're invited out, and eat too much." "You've been reading the etiquette book," remarked Romeo, with unusual insight, "and there's more foolish things in that book than in any other we've got. When we're invited out to eat, why shouldn't we eat? They may have been cooking for days just to get ready for us and they won't like it if we only pick at things." "Maybe they want some left," Juliet replied, brushing aside the crumbs. "I remember how mad Mamma was once when the minister ate two pieces of pie and she had to make another BJ:Ire. ltmtnart Suncbc:ou |