u think of it?"

"I think they have nice things here," said Matilda.

Judith did not at all know what to make of this answer.

"What is aunt Zara going to get for you?"

"I do not know--some dresses, I think."

Judith's eye ran up and down Matilda's dress again. "That was made in
the country, wasn't it?"

"Mrs. Laval had it made."

"Yes, but you will want another. Aunt Zara--aunt Zara!--Aren't you
going to get her a cloak?"

"A cloak?" said Mrs. Laval looking round. "Yes; that is what I brought
her for."

"There!" said Judy, "now you know something you didn't know before.
What sort of a cloak would you like?"

"I don't know," said Matilda in a flutter of delight. "Mrs. Laval
knows."

"I suppose she does, but she doesn't know what you would like, unless
you tell her. Let us watch the people coming in and see if we see
anything you would like. Isn't it funny?"

"What?" Matilda asked.

"All of it. To see the people. They are all sorts, you know, and so
funny. There are two Irish women,--very likely they have come in from
the shanties near the Central Park, to buy some calico dresses. Look at
them!--ten cent calicoes, and they are asking the shopman, I dare say,
if they can't have that one for nine. I suppose the calicoes are made
for them. No, there is somebody else wanting one. She's from the
country."

"How do you know?"

"Easy enough. See how she has got her hands folded over each other;
nobody does that but somebody that has come from the country. See her
hat, too; that's a country hat. If you could see her feet, you would
see that she has great thick country shoes."

Judy's eye as she spoke glanced down again at the floor where Matilda's
feet stood; and it seemed to Matilda that the very leather of her boots
could feel the look. _They_ were country boots. Did Judy mean, that?

"There's another country woman," the young lady went on. "See?--this
one in a velvet cloak. That's a cotton velvet, though."

"But how can you tell she's from the country?"

"She's all corners!" said Judith. "Her cloak was made by a carpenter,
and her head looks as if it was made by a mason. If you could see her
open her mouth, I've no doubt you would find that it is square.
There!--here!--how would you like a cloak like this one?"

The two were looking at a child who passed them just then, in a velvet
cloak stiff with gimp and bugle embroidery.

"I don't think it is pretty," said Matilda.

"It is rich," said Judy.