there some passable men-boarders there?"

"_I_ was there."

"Oh, yes! But I mean, were there any there beside you?"

"Oh, yes, there were three or four; there was--a clerk and a----"

"Never mind, as long as there was something with trousers on. Did it
ever strike you that she never got into the bath at all?"

"Why, no! What would she want to go there at all for, in that case?"

"To make an impression on the men," replied Mitchell promptly. "She
wanted to make out she was nice, and wholesome, and well-washed,
and particular. Made an impression on YOU, it seems, or you wouldn't
remember it."

"Well, yes, I suppose so; and, now I come to think of it, the bath
didn't seem to injure her make-up or wet her hair; but I supposed she
held her head from under the shower somehow."

"Did she make-up so early in the morning?" asked Mitchell.

"Yes--I'm sure."

"That's unusual; but it might have been so where there was a lot of
boarders. And about the hair--that didn't count for anything, because
washing-the-head ain't supposed to be always included in a lady's bath;
it's only supposed to be washed once a fortnight, and some don't do it
once a month. The hair takes so long to dry; it don't matter so much if
the woman's got short, scraggy hair; but if a girl's hair was down to
her waist it would take hours to dry."

"Well, how do they manage it without wetting their heads?"

"Oh, that's easy enough. They have a little oilskin cap that fits tight
over the forehead, and they put it on, and bunch their hair up in it
when they go under the shower. Did you ever see a woman sit in a sunny
place with her hair down after having a wash?"

"Yes, I used to see one do that regular where I was staying; but I
thought she only did it to show off."

"Not at all--she was drying her hair; though perhaps she was showing
off at the same time, for she wouldn't sit where you--or even a
Chinaman--could see her, if she didn't think she had a good head of
hair. Now, I'LL tell you a yarn about a woman's bath. I was stopping
at a shabby-genteel boarding-house in Melbourne once, and one very cold
winter, too; and there was a rather good-looking woman there, looking
for a husband. She used to go down to the bath every morning, no matter
how cold it was, and flounder and splash about as if she enjoyed it,
till you'd feel as though you'd like to go and catch hold of her and
wrap her in a rug and carry her in to the fire and nurse her till she
was