The thick hair,
cut short in the neck, was brushed back and held by a blue ribbon, the
only trace of ornament in a singular costume, which consisted of a very
simple morning dress, of some woollen material, nearly black, garnished
at the throat and wrists by some plain white frills. The dress hung
loosely on the girl's starved frame, the hands were long and thin, the
face sallow. Yet such was the force of the eyes, the energy of the
strong chin and mouth, the flashing freedom of her smile, as she stood
talking to Lady Lucy, that all the ugly plainness of the dress seemed to
Diana, as she watched her, merely to increase her strange effectiveness,
to mark her out the more favorably from the glittering room, from Lady
Lucy's satin and diamonds, or the shimmering elegance of Alicia Drake.
As she bowed to Mr. Frobisher, and took his arm amid the pairs moving
toward the dining-room, Diana asked him eagerly who the lady in the dark
dress might be.
"Oh! a great friend of mine," he said, pleasantly. "Isn't she splendid?
Did you notice her evening dress?"
"Is it an evening dress?"
"It's _her_ evening dress. She possesses two costumes--both made of the
same stuff, only the morning one has a straight collar, and the evening
one has frills.
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