That settled it—­I couldn’t let a visiting girl be danced to death.  Of course I had planned to make a dignified debut under my own roof, backed up by the presence of ancestral and marital rosewood, silver and mahogany, as a widow should, but duty called me to de-weed myself amidst the informality of an impromptu dance at the little town hotel.  And in the fifteen minutes Tom gave me I de-weeded to some purpose and flowered out to still more.  I never do anything by halves.

In that—­that—­trousseau old Rene had made me there was one, what she called “simple” lingerie frock.  And it looked just as simple as the check it called for, a one and two ciphers back of it.  It was of linen as sheer as a cobweb, real lace and tiny delicious incrustations of embroidery.  It fitted in lines that melted into curves, had enticements in the shape of a long sash and a dangerous breast-knot of shimmery blue, the color of my eyes, and I looked new-born in it.

I’m glad that poor Mr. Carter was so stern with me about rats and things in my hair, now that they are out of style, for I’ve got lots of my own left in consequence of not wearing other peoples’.  It clings and coils to my head just any old way that looks as if I had spent an hour on it.  That made me able to be ready to go down to Tom in only ten minutes over the time he gave me.

I stopped on next to the bottom step in the wide old hall and called Tom to turn out the light for me, as Judy had gone.

I have turned out that light lots of times, but I felt it best to let Tom see me in a full light when we were alone.  It is well I did!  At first it stunned him,—­and it is a compliment to any woman to stun Tom Pollard.  But Tom doesn’t stay stunned long and I only succeeded in suppressing him after he had landed two kisses on my shoulder, one on my hair and one on the back of my neck.

“Molly,” he said, standing off and looking at me with shining eyes, “you are one lovely dream.  Your shoulders are flushed velvet, your cheeks are peaches under cream, your eyes are blue absinthe and your mouth a red devil.  Come on before I get drunk looking at you.”  I didn’t know whether I liked that or not and turned down the light quickly myself and went to the gate hurriedly.  Tom laughed and behaved himself.

[Illustration:  “Molly, you are one lovely dream”]

Everybody in town was up to the hotel and everybody was nice to me, girls and all.  There is a bunch of lovely posy girls in this town and they were all in full flower.  Most of the men were college boys home for vacation, and while they are a few years younger than me, I have been friends with them for always and they know how I dance.  I didn’t even get near enough to the wall to know it was there, though I was conscious of Aunt Bettie and Mrs. Johnson sitting on it at one end of the room, and every time I passed them I flirted with them until I won a smile from them both.  I wish I could be sure of hearing Mrs. Johnson tell Aunt Adeline all about it.