ld get
her the very thing she required. He showed her sketches.

"I know there's nothing here that would do, but I just want to show you
the kind of thing I would suggest."

"Oh no, that's not the sort of thing at all," she said, as she glanced at
them impatiently. "What I want is something that'll just hit 'em in the
jaw and make their front teeth rattle."

"Yes, I quite understand, Miss Antonia," said the buyer, with a bland
smile, but his eyes grew blank and stupid.

"I expect I shall 'ave to pop over to Paris for it in the end."

"Oh, I think we can give you satisfaction, Miss Antonia. What you can get
in Paris you can get here."

When she had swept out of the department Mr. Sampson, a little worried,
discussed the matter with Mrs. Hodges.

"She's a caution and no mistake," said Mrs. Hodges.

"Alice, where art thou?" remarked the buyer, irritably, and thought he had
scored a point against her.

His ideas of music-hall costumes had never gone beyond short skirts, a
swirl of lace, and glittering sequins; but Miss Antonia had expressed
herself on that subject in no uncertain terms.

"Oh, my aunt!" she said.

And the invocation was uttered in such a tone as to indicate a rooted
antipathy to anything so commonplace, even if she had not added that
sequins gave her the sick. Mr. Sampson 'got out' one or two ideas, but
Mrs. Hodges told him frankly she did not think they would do. It was she
who gave Philip the suggestion:

"Can you draw, Phil? Why don't you try your 'and and see what you can do?"

Philip bought a cheap box of water colours, and in the evening while Bell,
the noisy lad of sixteen, whistling three notes, busied himself with his
stamps, he made one or two sketches. He remembered some of the costumes he
had seen in Paris, and he adapted one of them, getting his effect from a
combination of violent, unusual colours. The result amused him and next
morning he showed it to Mrs. Hodges. She was somewhat astonished, but took
it at once to the buyer.

"It's unusual," he said, "there's no denying that."

It puzzled him, and at the same time his trained eye saw that it would
make up admirably. To save his face he began making suggestions for
altering it, but Mrs. Hodges, with more sense, advised him to show it to
Miss Antonia as it was.

"It's neck or nothing with her, and she may take a fancy to it."

"It's a good deal more nothing than neck," said Mr. Sampson, looking at
the decolletage. "He can d