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The Tea-Gown.
My lady has a tea-gown
That is wondrous fair to see.—
It is flounced and ruffed and plaited and puffed.
As a tea-gown ought to be;
And I thought she must be jesting
Last night at supper when
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And had cost but two pounds ten.
Had she told me fifty shillings,
I might (and wouldn't you?)
Have referred to that dress in a way folks express
By an eloquent dash or two:
But the guileful little creature
Knew well her tactics when
She casually said that that dream in red
Had cost but two pounds ten.
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For that dainty, sensient thing.
That floats away where it properly may,
And clings where it ought to cling;
And I count myself the luckiest
Of all us married men
That I have a wife whose joy in life
Is a gown at two pounds ten.
It isn't the gown compels me
Condone this venial sin;
It's the pretty face above the lace,
And the gentle heart within.
And with her arms about me
I say, and say again,
" Twas wondrous cheap, "and I think a heap
Of that gown at two pounds ten!