it at his unprotected pate seemed rather a blow below the
belt--"there would be no difficulty. Unfortunately, it is a very
complex matter." He hid all but the smallest conceivable fraction of a
smile. "I am not referring to colour," she continued with some asperity,
"but to the fact that, at present, fashion requires me to wear a
prodigious number of little curls. My native crop is ample in quantity,
but I should hardly be in time for a matinee or even an evening
performance if I had it turned into all these little necessary curls.
So, like most of my friends, in order to save time and trouble, I have a
number which are pinned on. Do you think I care to run the risk of
removing my hat without even a looking-glass to guide me? Heaven knows
what might happen. The case is a little better, though far from
satisfactory, with those who wear nothing but their own crop."

This view of the subject seemed to have something in it, a fact which,
of course, could not be admitted. There were, not long before, in _The
Westminster Gazette_ some remarks by "Madame Qui Vive" to the effect
that even a female Absalom or a Melisande could not do without what she
called the "clever devices of the coiffeur," and claims were made of
woman's right to adopt the fashion of the days when both men and women
wore wigs, on the ground that the coiffeur's "little devices"--English
for sham curls--save time, and also remain "trimmer and neater" than
natural curls.

"Do you think," she said, "that it is pleasant to hold an eight or ten
guinea hat on your knees, to say nothing of a boa and muff and veil? And
what about the damage to a delicate hat caused by people who shove in
front of you and brush against it and crush the tulle and break the
feathers? A lot of style it possesses after being treated in that
fashion!"

"Don't you think you might have special hats for matinees--something
undamageable."

"Perhaps you would like to see me in a tam-o'-shanter, or a yachting
cap, or one of those nice 'sensible' straw hats you men admire; and
suppose I want to go to a lunch _en route_ for the play, or tea
afterwards, or to drive in the Park, or to go anywhere except to my
_cabinet de toilette_?"

"They might make you something extra small and low that would serve for
all these purposes."

"Indeed; don't you think half-a-guinea is enough to pay for a stall
without buying a special hat into the bargain? A nice fuss my husband
would make about my extravaga