ness
and sullenness disappeared from Jacqueline's face; her eyes sparkled.
She gave one more proof, that to every Parisienne worthy of the name,
the two pleasures in riding are, first to have a perfectly fitting
habit, secondly, to have the opportunity of showing how pretty she can
be after a new fashion.

"Shall we go to Blackfern's now?"

"This very moment, if you wish it."

"You really mean Blackfern? Yvonne's habit came from Blackfern's!"
Yvonne d'Etaples was the incarnation of chic--of fashionable
elegance--in Jacqueline's eyes. Her heart beat with pleasure when she
thought how Belle and Dolly would envy her when she told them: "I have
a myrtle-green riding-habit, just like Yvonne's." She danced rather than
walked as they went together to Blackfern's. A habit was much nicer than
a long gown.

A quarter of an hour later they were in the waiting-room, where the last
creations of the great ladies' tailor, were displayed upon lay figures,
among saleswomen and 'essayeuses', the very prettiest that could be
found in England or the Batignolles, chosen because they showed off to
perfection anything that could be put upon their shoulders, from the
ugliest to the most extravagant. Deceived by the unusual elegance of
these beautiful figures, ladies who are neither young nor well-shaped
allow themselves to be beguiled and cajoled into buying things not
suited to them. Very seldom does a hunchbacked dowager hesitate to put
upon her shoulders the garment that draped so charmingly those of the
living statue hired to parade before her. Jacqueline could not help
laughing as she watched this way of hunting larks; and thought the
mirror might have warned them, like a scarecrow, rather than have
tempted them into the snare.

The head tailor of the establishment made them wait long enough to
allow the pretty showgirls to accomplish their work of temptation. They
fascinated Jacqueline's father by their graces and their glances, while
at the same time they warbled into his daughter's ear, with a slightly
foreign' accent: "That would be so becoming to Mademoiselle."

For ladies going to the seaside there were things of the most exquisite
simplicity: this white fur, trimmed with white velvet, for instance;
that jacket like the uniform of a naval officer with a cap to
match--"All to please Fred," said Jacqueline, laughing. M. de Nailles,
while they waited for the tailor, chose two costumes quite as original
as those of Mademoiselle