"No, Miss Vanderdyke, there's nothing to do now except the silver belt, and we needn't trouble you as to that."
"Well," said Beatrix, "I shall leave town to-morrow directly after lunch. Be sure you send the dress round to my house in good time. Thank you. Good morning."
Mrs. Keene gave a little cry. "Oh, you've forgotten to put on your frock, dear," she said.
"Have I? It's so hot it didn't seem necessary."
Beatrix came back. She had already arrived half-way towards the staircase in what was a most bewitching undress. She never could resist the temptation of putting Mrs. Keene on tenter-hooks. She stepped into her frock and submitted to being hooked up. She noticed that the girl who had tried her on looked very pale and tired. "Aren't you going away?" she asked.
A rather wan smile passed over the girl's pretty face. "No, Miss Vanderdyke, not this year."
"What, you aren't going to take any holiday at all?"
The girl shook her head. "My mother has been very ill, and doctor's bills----"
"I'm so sorry," said Beatrix. "What's your name?"
Beatrix went over to Mrs. Keene, who was examining a Paris model between the windows. She opened a bag which hung on the elderly lady's arm and took out a cheque-book. Armed with this she made her way over to a desk, sat down and wrote a cheque for five hundred dollars, payable to the girl whom she had seen constantly on duty since the previous October. This she slipped into an envelope and wrote on it, "Please take a little holiday to oblige me?" And having returned the cheque-book to the ample bag in which Mrs. Keene kept enough necessities to provide against shipwreck or other likely accidents, slipped the envelope into the girl's hand and said "Good-bye. Let me know about your mother."
On the way down stairs the first crash of thunder broke over the city and heavy rain beat against the window. "We shall have to drive home," said Beatrix. "Will you ask them to call up a taxi?"
Her ladyship's deputy came forward. "I hope you found the costume to your liking, Miss Vanderdyke."
"Oh, yes," said Beatrix. "It'll do very well. I shall have to be very careful how I'm photographed, because if I stand against the light there'll be very little left to the imagination."