Anastasia gave a little cry.
“I don’t believe it! Oh, Mama, imagine being able to have some really pretty and expensive gowns for once. I am sick to death of the ones we have made ourselves, and poor old Mrs. Hawkins is really past being a seamstress. Her fingers are so crippled with arthritis that I feel a brute if I ask her to undo a seam or take in a tuck. It is obviously agony for her to use a needle.”
“We have not been able to afford anyone better,” the Grand Duchess said almost apologetically.
“I know that, Mama, and I am not complaining,” Anastasia said quickly, “but it would be wonderful to go to London and choose something really exquisite. How much did the Queen say she would spend?”
“She did not restrict us to a price,” the Grand Duchess replied. “She just said she would giv
