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"No really, my dear, this dress is not pretty," said Lise,

looking sideways at Princess Mary from a little distance. "You

have a maroon dress, have it fetched. Really! You know the fate

of your whole life may be at stake. But this one is too light,

it's not becoming!"

It was not the dress, but the face and whole figure of Princess

Mary that was not pretty, but neither Mademoiselle Bourienne nor

the little princess felt this; they still thought that if a blue

ribbon were placed in the hair, the hair combed up, and the blue

scarf arranged lower on the best maroon dress, and so on, all

would be well. They forgot that the frightened face and the

figure could not be altered, and that however they might change

the setting and adornment of that face, it would still remain

piteous and plain. After two or three changes to which Princess

Mary meekly submitted, just as her hair had been arranged on the

top of her head (a style that quite altered and spoiled her

looks) and she had put on a maroon dress with a pale-blue scarf,

the little princess walked twice round her, now adjusting a fold

of the dress with her little hand, now arranging the scarf and

looking at her with her head bent first on one side and then on

the other.