Page:Alice Lauder.pdf/89

dôme,’ I replied mechanically. And then—I don’t know what possibly possessed me, but in answer to the very obvious desire expressed in her eyes—‘Would you like to try it on?’

“Before the words were well pronounced the hat was wafted off my head, and was poised at an angle of forty-five degrees on Mrs. Austin’s fair coils of hair. She gazed at herself in one of the mirrors with serious interest, trying the effect in profile and full face and three-quarters, and finally in as much of a back view as could be managed without screwing her pretty head quite round in a circle. The hat suited her to perfection, and she perceived that fact. Mean while I felt rather embarrassed, not to say like an escaped lunatic, with my hairpins gradually stealing down the back of my neck, and a blank despair, which I tried in vain to disguise under a false air of merriment, gradually taking possession of my soul.

“However, the situation was soon relieved. The beauty turned round with a gracious smile and restored my property, deftly pinning it on my hair, and saying affectionately:

“‘Thanks so much! I see you are good-natured, and can put up with a scapegrace like me. Now, captain, are you ready? We must finish our set, and don’t be so lazy this time.