and then, having held the little mirror at a distance to
better view the effect, she took it off and set to work with pins,
making it three-cornered. This proved to be quite a change; for
whatever it might be said to look like in her hands, it became a hat
the moment she put it on; it had an appearance and an air; and now the
dark surface lent itself all to contrast with her light, soft-hued hair
and clear, delicate skin. It was still further improved, when, having
removed it again, she set it on at a rakish artillery angle. Possibly,
if hers had been the dark, nut-brown beauty, she would have seen that
she looked best lurking beneath its sombre shade, and therefore have
turned the rim down some way to even increase the shade; but Janet
fitted that which was frank, open, and aboveboard. And so she used the
black for contrast rather than obscurity--besides which there was
another sort of contrast, for a soldier hat on Janet was a striking
foil for her utter femininity. And its romantic pretense (so different
from the dark gypsy-like romantic) was such an arrant little piece of
make-believe that it had the effect of playful candor, acknowledging
how impossible a man she would make; and while it was, strikingly, a
pure case of art for art's sake, you could not but remark how much
better _she_ looked in it than any soldier could ever have done. To
tell the truth, we do not really pretend to know why Janet did this, or
what taught her how to do it; anyway, she did it; and now, having so
easily accomplished one of the most difficult parts of a self-made
woman, she fixed it in position with the hatpin, snapped shut her
chatelaine bag, and rose to go.

Looking forward in the direction she had turned to, her mind began to
be crossed with doubts as to whether that was the right way. She
looked in other directions. Then she turned slowly about. What she
saw was simply prairie all the way round. Which part of that horizon
had she come from--what point in space? There is nothing so answerless.

She was now in a world where there was no such thing as direction
except that one side was opposite the other. There seemed to be
nowhere that she could really consider as a Place! The spot where she
had been sitting seemed to be a place; but now she realized that she
could go far from it in any direction and still be resting in the
middle of nature's lap.

How she strained her mind out to the very edge of things and tried to