t though her complexion
(what one can see of it) looks fresh, if pale, and she has no hollows or
wrinkles, her hair is gray, and she wears blue spectacles, with only a
bit of face really visible. One hardly knows what she does look like.
Nevertheless, the men of our party are her slaves; and it is the same at
hotels. If at first landlords say Tibe can't live in the house, the next
minute, when she has wheedled a little, they are patting his head,
calling him "good dog," and telling his mistress that they will make an
exception in his case.

The morning after we arrived in Volendam I got up early, because Mr. van
Buren offered to show me the place if I cared to take a walk. It was
only half-past eight when we strolled out of the hotel, and the first
person I met was Lady MacNairne. She had been walking, and was on her
way back, looking like the Old Woman in the Shoe, surrounded by children
of all sizes. She had made friends with them, and taken their
photographs, and their grown-up sisters had told her lots of things
about Volendam.

She had found out that as soon as the fisherfolk's sons begin to dress
like boys, they are given their buckles and neck-buttons: the gold or
silver knobs which are different for each fishing-village of Holland; so
that, if a man is found drowned, you can tell where he comes from by his
buttons.

She had learned that the trousers are baggy, because in storms the men
don't get as wet as in tight ones. That the women wear eight petticoats,
not only because it's "the mode," but because it's considered beautiful
for a girl to look stout; and besides, it's not thought modest to show
how you are shaped.

Another thing she learned was that, just as the boys must have their
buckles and buttons (and ear-rings, if they can get them), each Volendam
girl, if she wishes to be anybody, must have a coral necklace with a
gold cross; several silver rings; a silver buckle for her purse; and a
scent-bottle with a silver top and foot. No girl could hope to marry
well, Lady MacNairne said, without these things; and as the ones who
told her had no rings or scent-bottles in their collections, she would
get her nephew to buy them. It wouldn't do for him to make the presents
himself, as the girls were proud, though their fathers earned only five
gulden a week; but she would give them, and then it would be all right.
One of the girls was unhappy, as she was in love with a young fisherman,
and they were too poor t