So that, instead
of frolic and laughter, as had been intended, they remained standing
with bared heads; and no one liked to be the first to speak.
She put them at their ease--or tried to--with a gracious gesture.
But enjoined upon them all her wish for secrecy. And so dismissed
they seem to have returned to the village a marvellously sober
little party, experiencing all the sensations of honest folk
admitted to their first glimpse of high society.
They came again next year--at least a few of them--bringing with
them a dress more worthy of Malvina's wearing. It was as near as
Paris could achieve to the true and original costume as described by
the good Friar Bonnet, the which had been woven in a single night by
the wizard spider Karai out of moonlight. Malvina accepted it with
gracious thanks, and was evidently pleased to find herself again in
fit and proper clothes. It was hidden away for rare occasions where
only Malvina knew. But the lady who had first kissed her, and whose
speciality was fairies, craving permission, Malvina consented to
wear it while sitting for her portrait. The picture one may still
see in the Palais des Beaux Arts at Nantes (the Bretonne Room). It
represents her standing straight as an arrow, a lone little figure
in the centre of a treeless moor.
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