her way.

A rain began to fall. I paused upon the doorstep for a minute, enjoying
the cool drops upon by upturned face, the tonic sharpness of the keen
east wind; then slipped my key into the lock and entered.

The door of old Deleglise's studio on the first floor happened to be
open. Hitherto, beyond the usual formal salutations, when by chance we
met upon the stairs, I had exchanged but few words with my eccentric
landlord; but remembering his kindly face, the desire came upon me
to tell him my good fortune. I felt sure his eyes would lighten with
delight. By instinct I knew him for a young man's man.

I tapped lightly; no answer came. Someone was talking; it sounded like a
girl's voice. I pushed the door further open and walked in; such was the
custom of the house. It was a large room, built over the yard, lighted
by one high window, before which was the engraving desk, shaded under
a screen of tissue paper. At the further end of the room stood a large
cheval-glass, and in front of this, its back towards me, was a figure
that excited my curiosity; so that remaining where I was, partly hidden
behind a large easel, I watched it for awhile in silence. Above a
heavily flounced blue skirt, which fell in creases on the floor
and trailed a couple of yards or so behind, it wore a black low-cut
sleeveless bodice--much too big for it--of the fashion early Victorian.
A good deal of dark-brown hair, fastened up by hair-pins that stuck out
in all directions like quills upon a porcupine, suggesting collapse with
every movement, was ornamented by three enormous green feathers, one
of which hung limply over the lady's left ear. Three times, while I
watched, unnoticed, the lady propped it into a more befitting attitude,
and three times, limp and intoxicated-looking, it fell back into its
former foolish position. Her long, thin arms, displaying a pair of
brilliantly red elbows, pointed to quite a dangerous degree, terminated
in hands so very sunburnt as to convey the impression of a pair of
remarkably well-fitting gloves. Her right hand grasped and waved with
determination a large lace fan, her left clutched fiercely the front of
her skirt. With a sweeping curtsey to herself in the glass, which would
have been more effective could she have avoided tying her legs together
with her skirt--a _contretemps_ necessitating the use of both hands and
a succession of jumps before she could disentangle herself--she remarked
so soon as she had