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Still pouting, Gisselle held one of my blouses against her and studied it in the mirror. Then she dropped it on the bed and opened the drawers of the armoire to inspect my new panties.
"When I bought a set of these, she thought they were too sexy," she said, holding up the abbreviated light silks.
"I've never worn anything like it," I confessed.
"Well, I'm borrowing this pair of panties, this skirt, and this blouse for tonight," she informed me firmly.
"I don't mind," I said, "but--"
"But what?" Sisters share things with each other, don't they?"
I wanted to remind her of the nasty things she had said on the stairway in the morning when I came upon her returning from the ball, how she would never let me borrow her pretty red dress, but I realized that was before my father had had his conversation with her. It did bring about a change in her attitude toward me. Then I recalled something Daphne had said.
"Daphne disapproves of girls sharing things. Even sisters. She said so," I told her.
"You just let me worry about Mother. There are a lot of things she says and then goes and does the exact opposite," Gisselle replied as she went through the blouses to decide if there were any others she wanted to borrow.
And so for the first dinner we would have together as a family, Gisselle and I wore the same style skirt and blouse. She thought it would be amusing for us to brush and tie our hair into French knots as well. We dressed in my room and sat at my vanity table.
"Here," she said, taking a gold ring off her pinky and handing it to me. "You wear this tonight. wear no jewelry, since you have none."
"Why?" I asked. I saw the impish glint in her eyes. "Daddy wants you on his left, I imagine, and me, as usual on his right."
"So?"
"I'll sit on his left; yo
u sit on his right. Let's see if he knows the difference," she said.
"Oh, he will. He knew I wasn't you the moment he set eyes on me," I told her.
Gisselle didn't know whether to take this as something good or bad. I saw the confusion in her face for a moment and then the decision.
"We'll see," she said. "I told Beau there were differences between us, differences maybe only I can see. I know what," she said, bouncing in her chair. "We'll tease Beau tonight. You'll pretend you're me and pretend I'm you."
"Oh, I couldn't do that," I said, my heart fluttering with the thought of being Beau's girlfriend, even for a few minutes.
"Of course you can. He thought you were me the first time he set eyes on you, didn't he?"
"That was different. He didn't know I existed," I explained.
"I'll tell you exactly how to act and what to say," she continued, ignoring my point. "Oh, this is going to be fun for a change. I mean, real fun, with it all starting at dinner," she decided.
However, just as I predicted, our father knew instantly that we had taken the wrong seats at the dining room table. Daphne, who raised her eyebrows as soon as she saw the two of us in my new clothes, sat down, for the moment confused. But my father threw his head back and roared with laughter.
"What is so funny, Pierre?" Daphne demanded. She had come to dinner dressed formally in a black dress with diamond teardrop earrings and a matching diamond necklace and bracelet. The dress had a Vneck collar that dipped low enough to show the start of her cleavage. I thought she was so beautiful and elegant.
"Your daughters have dressed alike and conspired to test me at their first meal together," he said. "This is Ruby wearing Gisselle's pinky ring and this is Gisselle in Ruby's seat."
Daphne looked from me to Gisselle and then back to me.
"Ridiculous," she said. "Did you think we wouldn't know the difference? Take your proper seats, please," she commanded.
Gisselle laughed and got up. Father's eyes twinkled with delight at me, but then he turned serious, his expression sober when he gazed across the table at Daphne and saw she wasn't amused.
"I hope this is the beginning and the end of such shenanigans," Daphne declared. She directed herself to Gisselle. "I'm trying to teach your sister the proper way to behave at dinner and in the company of others. It's not going to be easy. anyway. The last thing I need is for you to set a bad example, Gisselle."
"I'm sorry," she said, and looked down for a moment. Then her head snapped up. "How come you bought her all these short skirts and carried on so much when I wanted them last month?"
