midday
She turned her head this way and that , craning to get the effect from every angle-the bouffance of the skirt , the rosebuds wreathing the sides , the butterfly sash in the back . Adjured by Miss Martin to stand still , she stood vibrantly poised like a lily-stem waiting the breath of the wind ; bade to `` lift up your arms , '' she obeyed and visioned winged fairies alert for flight . Even when Miss Martin , carried away by her zeal in fitting , stuck a pin through the pink tissue clear into the warmer , softer pink beneath , Missy scarcely felt the prick . But , at the midday dinner-table , that sympathetic uneasiness returned . Father , home from the office , was full of indignation over something `` disgraceful '' he had heard down town . Though the conversation was held tantalizingly above Missy 's full comprehension , she could gather that the `` disgrace '' centred in the bachelor dinner which Mr. Hackett had given at the Commercial House the night before . Father evidently held no high opinion of the introduction of `` rotten Cleveland performances '' nor of the man who had introduced them .