Ruby (Landry 1)

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