. "Yes, wa'al, when I went home that night I
stopped into a mil'nery store, an' after I'd stood 'round a minute, a
girl come up an' ast me if she c'd show me anythin'.

"'I want to buy a bunnit,' I says, an' she kind o' laughed. 'No,' I
says, 'it ain't fer me, it's fer a lady,' I says; an' then we both
laughed.

"'What sort of a bunnit do you want?' she says.

"'Wa'al, I dunno,' I says, 'this is the fust time I ever done anythin'
in the bunnit line.' So she went over to a glass case an' took one out
an' held it up, turnin' it 'round on her hand.

"'Wa'al,' I says, 'I guess it's putty enough fur 's it goes, but the'
don't seem to be much of anythin' _to_ it. Hain't you got somethin' a
little bit bigger an'--'

"'Showier?' she says. 'How is this?' she says, doin' the same trick with
another.

"'Wa'al,' I says, 'that looks more like it, but I had an idee that the
A 1, trible-extry fine article had more traps on't, an' most any one
might have on either one o' them you've showed me an' not attrac' no
attention at all. You needn't mind expense,' I says.

"'Oh, very well,' she says, 'I guess I know what you want,' an' goes
over to another case an' fetches out another bunnit twice as big as
either the others, an' with more notions on't than you c'd shake a stick
at--flowers, an' gard'n stuff, an' fruit, an' glass beads, an' feathers,
an' all that, till you couldn't see what they was fixed on to. She took
holt on't with both hands, the girl did, an' put it onto her head, an'
kind o' smiled an' turned 'round slow so 't I c'd git a gen'ral view
on't.

"'Style all right?' I says.

"'The very best of its kind,' she says.

"'How 'bout the _kind_?' I says.

"'The very best of its style,' she says."

John laughed outright. David looked at him for a moment with a doubtful
grin.

"She _was_ a slick one, wa'n't she?" he said. "What a hoss trader she
would 'a' made. I didn't ketch on at the time, but I rec'lected
afterward. Wa'al," he resumed, after this brief digression, "'how much
is it?' I says.

"'Fifteen dollars,' she says.

"'What?' I says. 'Scat my ----! I c'd buy head rigging enough to last me
ten years fer that.'

"'We couldn't sell it for less,' she says.

"'S'posin' the lady 't I'm buyin' it fer don't jest like it,' I says,
'can you alter it or swap somethin' else for it?'

"'Cert'nly, within a reasonable time,' she says.

"'Wa'al, all right,' I says, 'do her up.' An' so she wrapped the thing
'round wi