[ Look, Diana, we can't all be giants. The Countess is supremely disappointed in how short all the heels are -- what, exactly, is a woman who barely breaks five feet to do?

She can't help but laugh airily at the idea of sewing anything for herself. She hasn't even basted a hem since her early twenties. In the early '20s. ]

God no. I've never been gifted in homemaking. It was always my mother's greatest frustration. No, I got the name of a seamstress from one of those women at the luncheon, I've decided to give her a trial. I have so many of these big bolts of fabric, and no clothes.

[ Well, no good clothes, anyway. ]