The Wedding Dress by Mary Burchell Page A

sounds so silly! ”
    “ Tell me nevertheless, ” said Florian, in the tone he used for drawing large orders out of difficult customers.
    “ I had the feeling — ” Loraine laughed softly and ran her hands gently over the slim lines of the magical suit. “ I had the strange feeling that I was a princess, a little bit disguised, and that something touching and — romantic might happen at any minute. Like a fairy story, only in real life. I’m afraid you must think me dreadfully childish! It was only a moment of make-believe and — ”
    “ Try her in all Julie’s numbers this afternoon, ” said Florian, turning to Madame Moisant.
    “ All of them? ” His directrice sounded faintly scandalized. “ Do you mean those which have already been allotted to Lisette and Clotilde? ”
    “ All of them, ” repeated Florian coolly. “ I want to see what she makes of them. ”
    “ There will be trouble, ” muttered Madame Moisant. “ Not with Clotilde, who is philosophical and also lazy. But with Lisette, who is ambitious and envious and fights for every design like a dog for a bone. ”
    “ I do not run my business to please Lisette, ” said Florian drily. “ Loraine will wear all Julie’s designs at the show this afternoon. And do not look so solemn, ma chère — ”
    For a moment Loraine thought he was still addressing Madame Moisant and then she realized that he had turned to herself. “ In this world one cannot be both successful and popular. This I have found for myself long ago. To be hated is often the full measure of one’s success. ”
    He looked remarkably cheerful about this regrettable state of affairs. So Loraine smiled and also tried to look as though she did not in the least mind being hated, so long as she won his approval.
    “ Come, then. We have a great deal to do, ” said Madame Moisant brusquely, as though Loraine were lingering unnecessarily. And once again Loraine was whisked off, divested of her black suit and, when reclothed in her own things, taken down to the salon, where Madame Moisant put her through her paces with regard to the matter of actually appearing in public.
    In her sharp, astringent way, the Frenchwoman was not unhelpful, and it became perfectly obvious to Loraine that there was nothing — literally nothing — which she did not know about the display and sale of beautiful clothes.
    Humbly glad to be instructed by such an expert, Loraine paid the utmost attention to all she was told and tried hard to remember her instructions, at the same time making them sufficiently part of herself to avoid either stiffness or anxiety.
    “ You have a natural talent, ” Madame Moisant admitted grudgingly at last. “ Well — we will see. ”
    Back in the dressing-room once more, she made the general unequivocal statement that Loraine would wear all Julie’s designs at the afternoon show.
    “ What a relief! ” exclaimed Clotilde characteristically. “ I shall now at least be able to breathe between appearances. ” But Lisette — equally characteristically — cried.
    “ She shall not wear Fourteen nor Fifty-one. These are mine! They are my models. ”
    “ On the contrary, Lisette — ” It was Florian himself who, unexpectedly, spoke from the doorway. “ They happen to be my models, and I will decide who wears them.’
    “ But, monsieur ” — Lisette was only mildly abashed — “ you promised me — ”
    “ You are mistaken, Lisette. According to my invariable custom, I promised you nothing, ” Florian assured her courteously. “ Loraine will wear Julie’s models this afternoon, and I shall be there myself to see the show. ”
    From the silence which greeted this last statement, Loraine gathered it was unusual for Florian himself to attend the daily dress show so late in the season. And she was both alarmed and gratified to realize that she herself must be the reason for his unwonted appearance.
    “ Afterwards, ” went on Florian calmly, “ I shall need you in my