I listened to her with amazement . `` I have a dress I 'll lend you , '' she said resolutely . `` And I 'll go over and fix you up as soon as it 's a little darker . Go now and bathe your eyes and just trust to me . '' Miss Ponsonby 's long habit of obedience to whatever she was told stood her in good stead now . She obeyed Jerry without another word . Jerry seized me by the waist and waltzed me around the room in an ecstasy . `` Jerry Elliott , how are you going to carry this thing through ? '' I demanded sternly . `` Easily enough , '' responded Jerry . `` You know that black lace dress of mine -- the one with the apricot slip . I 've never worn it since I came to Glenboro , so nobody will know it 's mine , and I never mean to wear it again for it 's got too tight . It 's a trifle old-fashioned , but that wo n't matter for Glenboro , and it will fit Miss Ponsonby all right . She 's about my height and figure . I 'm determined that poor soul shall have a dissipation for once in her life since she hankers for it . Come on now , Elizabeth . It will be a lark . '' I caught Jerry 's enthusiasm , and while she hunted out the box containing the black lace dress , I hastily gathered together some other odds and ends I thought might be useful -- a black aigrette , a pair of black silk gloves , a spangled gauze fan , and a pair of slippers . They would n't have stood daylight , but they looked all right after night . As we left the room I caught up some pale pink roses on my table .
We pushed through a little gap in the privet hedge and found ourselves under the acacia tree XXXXX Miss Ponsonby peering anxiously at us from above .
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