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Reade, Charles, 1814-1884

"A Woman-Hater"

But Fanny is right; they
make mistakes in color. They are terribly afraid of scarlet; but they are
afraid of nothing else: and many of their mixtures are as discordant to
the eye as Wagner's music to the ear. Now, after all, scarlet is the king
of colors; and there is no harm in King Scarlet, if you treat him with
respect and put a modest subject next to him."
"Gypsy locks, for instance," suggested Fanny, slyly.
Miss Maitland owned herself puzzled. "In my day," said she, "no one ever
thought of putting blue upon blue; but really, somehow, it looks well."
"May I tell you why, aunt?--because the dress-maker had a real eye, and
has chosen the right tints of blue. It is all nonsense about one color
not going with another. Nature defies that; and how? by choosing the very
tints of each color that will go together. The sweetest room I ever saw
was painted by a great artist; and, do you know, he had colored the
ceiling blue and the walls green: and I assure you the effect was
heavenly: but, then, he had chosen the exact tints of green and blue that
would go together. The draperies were between crimson and maroon. But
there's another thing in Fanny's dress; it is velvet.


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