ling casaquin for a sort of _camail_ to match the dress, and trimmed,
like the capotte, with a line of white fur. Her petticoat was very short,
lightly puffed on the sides, and ornamented only with two very long
pockets trimmed like the camail. Below the folds of the robe were two
Cinderella feet in blue silk stockings and black velvet slippers. It was
not only the material of this toilet that astonished us, but the way in
which it was made.

"Maybe she is a modiste. Who knows?" whispered Suzanne.

Another thing: Madame Carpentier wore a veil and gloves, two things of
which we had heard but which we had never seen. Madame Ferrand had
mentioned them, but said that they sold for their weight in gold in Paris,
and she had not dared import them, for fear she could not sell them in
Louisiana. And here was the wife of a laboring gardener, who avowed
himself possessor of but two thousand francs, dressed like a duchess and
with veil and gloves!

I could but notice with what touching care Joseph assisted his wife on
board. He led her straight to her room, and quickly rejoined us on deck to
put himself at the disposition of his associates. He explained to Mario
his delay, caused by the difficulty of finding a carriage; at which Carlo
lifted his shoulders and grimaced. Joseph added that madame--I noticed
that he rarely called her Alix--was rather tired, and would keep her room
until dinner time. Presently our heavy craft was under way.

Pressing against the long sweeps, which it required a herculean strength
to move, were seen on one side Carlo and his son Celestino, or 'Tino, and
on the other Joseph and Gordon. It moved slowly; so slowly that it gave
the effect of a great tortoise.

FOOTNOTES:
[9] Another error easy to make. For "Gazette" read "Moniteur"; "The
Gazette" appeared a little later.--TRANSLATOR.
[10] The translator feels constrained to say that he was not on the spot.

IV.

ALIX CARPENTIER.

Towards noon we saw Celeste come on deck with her second son, both
carrying baskets full of plates, dishes, covers, and a tablecloth. You
remember I have often told you of an awning stretched at the stern of the
flatboat? We found that in fine weather our dining-room was to be under
this. There was no table; the cloth was simply spread on the deck, and
those who ate had to sit _a la Turque_ or take their plates on their
knees. The Irish family ate in their room. Just as we were drawing around
our repast Madame Car