Page:Dead Souls - A Poem by Nikolay Gogol - vol1.djvu/294

282 'It's not nice, Sofya Ivanovna, if it's all festoons.'

'It's sweet, Anna Grigoryevna, you would never believe how sweet. It's made with two seams, there are wide armholes, and above … but now, now you will be astonished, now you will say … well, you may wonder: only fancy, the waists are longer than ever, coming down to a point in front, and the front busk is more extreme than ever; the skirt is gathered all round just as in the old-fashioned farthingale, they even stick on a little padding at the back to make you quite a belle-femme.'

'Well, that really is … I must say!' said the lady who was agreeable in all respects, tossing her head with a sense of her own dignity.

'Yes, precisely so; I must say!' answered the simply agreeable lady.

'Do what you like, I shall never follow that fashion.'

'I feel just the same. … Really, when you come to think what extremes fashion will sometimes go to … it's beyond anything! I asked my sister to send me the pattern just for fun; my Melanya undertook to make it.'

'Why, have you actually got the pattern!' cried the lady agreeable in all respects, with a perceptible throbbing of her heart.

'Yes, my sister brought it.'

'My darling, do let me have it, for the sake of all that's holy.'

'Oh, I have already promised it to Praskovya