dies, of various ages and
stability of person, and all suffering, in a greater or less degree,
from various fashionable complaints--such as neuralgia, indigestion,
rheumatism, or its aristocratic cousin, rheumatic-gout--were in Room
Number One of the Turkish Bath.

The female form is generally supposed to be "divine," and poets and
painters have, from time immemorial, rhapsodised over "beauty
unadorned." It is probable that such poets and painters have never been
gratified by such a vision of feminine charms as Room Number One
presented.

Light and airy garments were, certainly, to be seen, but not--forms. It
was, of course, a question of taste, as to whether the fat women, or the
thin women, looked the worst--probably the former, if one might judge by
the two samples of the lady who had arched feet, and the lady who had
_not_.

Both were staying at the hotel, and were respectively named--Mrs
Masterman, and Mrs Ray Jefferson. Mrs Masterman was a widow. Mrs
Ray Jefferson had a husband. He was an American, blessed with many
dollars, amassed on the strength of an "Invention." When Mr Jefferson
spoke of the Invention, people usually supposed it to be of a mechanical
nature. As they became more familiar with him, they learnt that it was
something "Chemical." No one quite knew what, but it became associated
in their minds with "vats" and "boilers," and large works somewhere
"down Boston way." There could be no doubt of the excellence of the
Invention, because Mr Ray Jefferson said it was known, and used all
over Europe, and its success was backed by dollars to an apparently
unlimited extent. The Inventor and his wife had sumptuous rooms, but
they were not averse to mixing with their "fellow-man," or rather
"woman,"--for Mrs Jefferson rejoiced in the possession of certain
Parisian _toilettes_, and was not selfish enough to keep them only for
the eyes of her lord and master.

She was grudgingly but universally acknowledged to be the best-dressed
woman in the hotel--except, of course, when she was in the Turkish
Baths, which unfortunately reduced its frequenters to one level of
apparelling, a garment which made up in simplicity for any lack of
elegance.

The shape was always the same--viz., short in the skirt, low in the
neck, and bare as to sleeves. The material was generally pink cotton,
or white with a red border.

Mrs Jefferson was quite American enough to have "notions" on dress,
more or less original an