"We must go up to town to-morrow," Isabel said, "and get things started. It will mean the whole day, I am afraid. Can you bear to be parted from Eustace for so long?"
Dinah laughed merrily at the question. "Of course--of course! What fun it will be! I always knew I should like to be married, but I never dreamt it could be so exciting as this."
Isabel smiled at her with a touch of pity in her eyes. "Marriage isn't only new clothes and wedding presents, Dinah," she said.
"No, no! I know!" Dinah spoke with swift compunction. "It is far more than that. But I've never had such lovely things before. I can't help feeling a little giddy about it. You do understand, don't you? I'm not like that all through--really."
"My darling!" Isabel answered fondly. "Of course I know it. I sometimes think that it would be better for you if you were."
"Isabel, why--why?" Dinah pressed close to her, half-curious, half-frightened.
But Isabel did not answer her. She only kissed the vivid, upturned face with all a mother's tenderness, and turned back in silence, to the fashion-book on her knee.