When the tea-table had been arranged, however, she gently approached her aunt.
"Do you think papa would object to my making the tea ?" The Countess looked at her with a deliberately critical gaze and without answering her question.

"My poor niece," she said, "is that your best frock ?" "Ah no," Pansy answered, "it's just a little toilette for common occasions." "Do you call it a common occasion when I come to see you ?--to say nothing of Madame Merle and the pretty lady yonder." Pansy reflected a moment, turning gravely from one of the persons mentioned to the other.

Then her face broke into its perfect smile.
"I have a pretty dress, but even that one's very simple.

Why should I expose it beside your beautiful things ?" "Because it's the prettiest you have; for me you must always wear the prettiest.

Please put it on the next time.