Hastings's
chief adviser, kindly enlightening her as to the _somebodies_
and _nobodies_ of the town, and rendering herself so generally
useful, that, in a fit of gratitude, Mrs. Hastings had promised
her her brother Stephen, a fast young man, who was expected
to be present at the party. To appear well in his eyes was,
therefore, Eugenia's ambition; and the time which was not spent
in giving directions at Rose Hill, was occupied at home in
scolding, because her mother would not devise a way by which she
could obtain a new pink satin dress, with lace overskirt, and
flowers to match.
It was in vain that Mrs. Deane sought to convince her daughter how
impossible it was to raise the necessary funds. Eugenia was
determined; and at last, by dint of secretly selling a half-worn
dress to one Irish girl, a last year's bonnet to another, and a
broche shawl to another, she succeeded in obtaining enough for the
desired purchase, lacking five dollars, and this last it seemed
impossible to procure. But Eugenia never despaired; and a
paragraph read one evening in a city paper, suggested to her a
plan which she resolved to execute immediately.
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