Then there had been afternoons when she had been "fitted" under Caroline's humorous and critical eye.

Finally the dress had been delivered, only two days ago, in a long card-board box; it waited now for the great occasion.
The great occasion had, in the guise of the Warlock family, surely arrived.

Maggie's heart beat as she went up to her room.

When at last she was wearing the dress, standing before her mirror, her cheeks were red and her hands shook a little.
The dress was very fine--simple of course and quite plain, but elegant as no dress of Maggie's had ever been elegant.

There surely could not anywhere be a more perfect black dress, and yet, as Maggie gazed, she was aware that there was something not quite right.