" Mind, Annette, I hope you have not played a wicked trick on me," she added, turning to her hostess.

" You wrote that it was to be quite a small reception, and just see how badly I am dressed.

" And she spread out her arms to show her short-waisted, lace-trimmed, dainty gray dress, girdled with a broad ribbon just below the breast.

"Soyez tranquille, Lise, you will always be prettier than anyone else," replied Anna Pavlovna.