Gisselle declared, and glared at our father. "I've been
waiting all year to attend this ball. All my friends are
there already," she moaned.
"Monsieur?" Beau said. My father nodded. "It can wait until morning," he said.
Gisselle swept back the strands of hair she had
shaken over her shoulders in her rage and marched out
of her room, glaring at me as she walked by to join
Beau Andreas. He looked uncomfortable, but let her
take his arm, and then the two of them marched down
the stairs, Gisselle pounding each step as she
descended.
"She has been so looking forward to this ball,"
my father explained. I nodded, but my father felt the
need to continue to justify her behavior. "It wouldn't
do any good to force her to stay. She would be less apt
to listen and understand. Daphne does so much better
with her when she's like this anyway," he added. "But I'm sure," he said as we continued toward
my new bedroom, "in time she will be overjoyed and
excited about getting a sister. She's been an only child
too long. She's a bit spoiled. Now," he said, "I have
another young lady to spoil, too."
The moment we stepped into my new room, I
felt that spoiling had begun. It had a dark pine canopy
queen-size bed, the canopy made of fine pearl-colored
silk with a fringe border. The pillows were enormous
and fluffy looking, the bedspread, pillowcases, and
top sheet all in chintz, the flowers full of Color and
glazed. The wallpaper duplicated the floral pattern in
the linens. Above the headboard was a painting of a
beautiful young woman in a garden setting feeding a