Page:In a winter city, by Ouida.djvu/311

 She was to dine at the Archduchess Anna's. The Archduchess Anna was passing through Floralia after three months at Palermo for health, and was staying in strict incognita, and infinite glee, as the Countess Von Feffers at the Hotel del Rè; enjoying herself endlessly, as the gay-hearted lady that she was, even indulging once in the supreme delight of driving in a cab, and with no other recognition of her great rank than consisted in the attendance upon her of the handsomest of the king's chamberlains.

"Dress me, then," said Lady Hilda, with a sigh. She could not excuse herself to the Archduchess, whom she had known intimately for years, and who was to leave Floralia in a week.

"What gown does Madame select?" asked her maid.

"Give me any you like," she answered.

She did not care how she would look; she would not meet him; she knew that he had no acquaintance with the imperial lady.

The maids, left to themselves, gave her the last new one from Worth; only six days arrived; a dress entirely white, with knots of purple