CHAPTER SEVENTEENStella talked about the party all the way home from the Vicarage.
“I can wear my new dress that Star got me just before she went away. It’s a sort of yellow. I like it because it hasn’t got frills. I hate frills. Miss Page has got a dress with frills—she’s going to wear it this evening. It makes her look all fluffy like a doll on a Christmas tree, only black. She put it on, and Mrs Lenton pinned up the hem, and she said, ‘Oh, Ellie, you look like a picture!’ I think that was a silly thing to say—don’t you? Because there are all sorts of pictures, and some of them are ever so ugly.”
Janet laughed.
“Mrs Lenton meant that Miss Page looked nice.”
Stella made a face.
“I don’t like black dresses. I won’t wear one ever. I’ve told Star I won’t. I don’t know why Miss Page has
