er wear clothes."

"I could not but perceive that the ladies have manifested some
embarrassment ever since I entered--is it possible that their delicacy
has taken the alarm at the state of my toilet?"

"At the toilet itself, Sir John, rather than at its state, if I must
speak plainly. The female mind, trained as it is with us from infancy
upwards in the habits and usages of nature, is shocked by any
departure from her rules. You will know how to make allowances for
the squeamishness of the sex, for I believe it is much alike in this
particular, let it come from what quarter of the earth it may."

"I can only excuse the seeming want of politeness by my ignorance, Dr.
Reasono. Before I ask another question the oversight shall be repaired.
I must retire into my own chamber for an instant, gentlemen and ladies,
and I beg you will find such sources of amusement as first offer until I
can return. There are nuts, I believe, in this closet; sugar is usually
kept on that table, and perhaps the ladies might find some relaxation by
exercising themselves on the chairs. In a single moment I shall be with
you again."

Hereupon I withdrew into my bed-chamber, and began to lay aside the
dressing-gown as well as my shirt. Remembering, however, that I was but
too liable to colds in the head, I returned to ask Dr. Reasono to
step in where I was for an instant. On mentioning the difficulty, this
excellent person assumed the office of preparing his female friends
to overlook the slight innovation of my still wearing the nightcap and
slippers.

"The ladies would think nothing of it," the philosopher good-humoredly
remarked, by way of lessening my regrets at having wounded their
sensibilities, "were you even to appear in a military cloak and Hessian
boots, provided it was not thought that you were of their acquaintance
and in their immediate society. I think you must have often remarked
among the sex of your own species, who are frequently quite indifferent
to nudities (their prejudices running counter to ours) that appear in
the streets, but which would cause them instantly to run out of the
room when exhibited in the person of an acquaintance; these conventional
asides being tolerated everywhere by a judicious concession of
punctilios that might otherwise become insupportable."

"The distinction is too reasonable to require another word of
explanation, dear sir. Now let us rejoin the ladies, since I am at
length in some degree fit to