Page:Alice Stuyvesant - The Vanity Box.djvu/114

 of dress, and way of doing her hair. If he didn't like a thing she wore, that was the end of it forever. Liane, her ladyship's French maid, into whose place she (Kate) had stepped ten weeks ago, was very clever about that sort of thing, and took advantage of her mistress's peculiarity in her own interest. If Liane fancied a hat, for instance, she would say, "Miladi, I am sure from the way he looked at you in it, Sir Ian detested you in that hat, though he is far too polite to say so. He only turned his eyes away." That was enough for her ladyship. Liane would get the hat; and the same with dresses and blouses. Her ladyship would begin to hate a thing if she had the idea that it made her look old; for she really was a bit older than Sir Ian, and extremely sensitive about her age, though very few would have guessed her feeling. Liane used to order creams and things for the complexion, or to keep the neck firm, in her own name, but they were really for her ladyship; and it was because of this, as well as little tricks about doing the hair, that her ladyship valued Liane so much. In Kate's opinion, Liane was a sly, worthless creature, but she couldn't say the French girl had any grudge against her mistress. Liane disappeared, it is true, but not on account of a "row," so far as Kate knew, and her ladyship was forever quoting Liane, saying nobody else could do as well as Liane could, no matter how they might try. Liane had probably had a love affair, and had wanted to