But an exclamation from the fifth member, who was examining
the box, arrested their attention.

"There's suthin' else here!"

He had found under the heavier wrapping a layer of tissue-paper, and
under that a further envelope of linen, lightly stitched together. A
knife blade quickly separated the stitches, and the linen was carefully
unfolded. It displayed a beautifully trimmed evening dress of pale blue
satin, with a dressing-gown of some exquisite white fabric armed with
lace. The men gazed at it in silence, and then the one single expression
broke from their lips,--

"Her duds!"

"Stop, boys," said "Clint" Grey, as a movement was made to lift the
dress towards the model, "leave that to a man who knows. What's the
use of my having left five grown-up sisters in the States if I haven't
brought a little experience away with me? This sort of thing ain't to be
'pulled on' like trousers. No, sir!--THIS is the way she's worked."

With considerable dexterity, unexpected gentleness, and some taste,
he shook out the folds of the skirt delicately and lifted it over the
dummy, settling it skillfully upon the wire hoops, and drawing the
bodice over the padded shoulders. This he then proceeded to fasten with
hooks and eyes,--a work of some patience. Forty eager fingers stretched
out to assist him, but were waved aside, with a look of pained decorum
as he gravely completed his task. Then falling back, he bade the others
do the same, and they formed a contemplative semicircle before the
figure.

Up to that moment a delighted but unsmiling consciousness of their own
absurdities, a keen sense of the humorous possibilities of the
original blunder, and a mischievous recognition of the mortification of
Trigg--whose only safety now lay in accepting the mistake in the same
spirit--had determined these grown-up schoolboys to artfully protract
a joke that seemed to be providentially delivered into their hands. But
NOW an odd change crept on them. The light from the open window that
gave upon the enormous pines and the rolling prospect up to the
dim heights of the Sierras fell upon this strange, incongruous, yet
perfectly artistic figure. For the dress was the skillful creation of a
great Parisian artist, and in its exquisite harmony of color, shape,
and material it not only hid the absurd model, but clothed it with an
alarming grace and refinement! A queer feeling of awe, of shame, and of
unwilling admiration took possession of them.