Clover said that I could wear my Catherine Deneuve dress, the navy-blue shift with the white Peter Pan collar. I said I thought maybe it wasn’t dressy enough but she said: “Oh no, trust me. It’s exactly right.” That’s a phrase of Clover’s. It’s exactly right. She says it whenever she approves of something. Which makes you think that in her world a lot of other things must go under the heading: exactly wrong. Here is what she told us in a nutshell about the world today: “We are hardly living in the golden age.” Meanwhile, Valentine said, “But I don’t have anything fancy! We just wear jeans or leggings in San Francisco. It’s true what they say about the East Coast. Everyone here is so uptight!” Clover took a good long look at her and said, “You know, I think we’re about the same measurements, you’re just so much taller. You already have quite the figure actually. If you don’t mind something being short on you, I bet I can find you something of mine.” A little while later, she came back with a backless sea-green sheath dress in a light, breezy silk.
