to think of that, remember!"

She tilted the hand-glass to the side to study the effect which had been
condemned, and as she did so, a sepulchral voice said grimly in her ear,
"When you have quite finished with my hat!" and she turned to behold a
severe-looking, elderly lady staring fixedly at her headgear, and
holding out her hand to claim it as her own. Poor Bridgie! her cheeks
flamed for the next hour. She was so hot, and breathless, and agitated
that she would have rushed straightway from the department, but Pixie
stood her ground and remained serenely unperturbed.

"'Twas true!" she cried. "'Twas only the truth she heard. _'Twas_
hidjus, and no words of yours would make it pretty. And as for cheap,
she ought to take that for a compliment, seeing the pains she's taking
to get another like it! Somebody must be trying on your own hat, I'm
thinking. It was lying over the rail of that chair where the fat lady
is resting. You'd better be asking her what she's done with it."

Bridgie walked forward and put an anxious Inquiry, whereupon the fat
lady leapt up in alarm, and there against the back of the chair lay a
poor flattened object, with battered crown and crestfallen bows--all
that was left of Bridgie's very best hat! She was horrified at the
sight, but the fat lady was more horrified still, and so lavish in her
apologies that it was impossible to cherish anger against her. She
insisted upon herself smoothing out the ribbons and moulding the crown
into something like the original shape, and in doing so bestowed the
information that there was another millinery department downstairs,
where there might possibly be less crowd and more chance of attention.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

"A FRENCH LADY."

The sisters agreed to adjourn forthwith, but just at the moment of
departing a hat was discovered which was in every way what was required,
so they proceeded straight to the remnant counter where a mountain of
material was being tossed about hither and thither by a crowd of
purchasers three rows deep.

"First catch your hare, then cook it," so runs the old proverb, and in
this case the adventure was by no means concluded when the selection was
made. It was necessary to pay for what you had bought, and that
necessitated a wait of a long half-hour before anyone could be induced
to receive the money. The glove department was, if possible, still more
crowded, and it was a relief to see through a doorway a vista of a