and brighter than mine.'

'The difference is very slight indeed; it would be imperceptible when
both were braided together,' returned the hairdresser. 'Do, pray,
allow me, mademoiselle, to shew you the effect;' and without waiting
for a reply, he commenced the operation. In a few moments it was
completed, and the old man's delight was extreme. 'There!' he
exclaimed in ecstasy. 'I knew the style would suit you exactly. Oh,
mademoiselle, pray allow it to remain so; I should be _au desespoir_
were I obliged to unfasten it now.'

Adelaide hesitated: it was, however, no conscientious scruple which
occasioned her hesitation. She was a Frenchwoman, a beauty, and a
little--a very little--of a coquette. To add to her attractions by the
slight _supercheries_ of the toilet was, she thought, a very venial
sin; it was a thing which, in the society that surrounded her, was
looked upon as necessary, and sometimes even considered as a virtue.
She was a strange girl, a dreamer, an enthusiast, with a warm heart,
and a lively, but perhaps too easily-excited imagination. From her
infancy, she had been accustomed to reflect, to question, and to
reason; but left almost entirely to her own unguided judgment, the
habit was not in every respect favourable to the formation of her
character. It was, however, but little injured by it. She was one of
those favoured beings whom no prosperity can spoil, no education
entirely mislead, and whose very faults arise from the overflowings of
a good and generous nature. The thought which agitated her now was one
worthy of her gentle heart.

'Monsieur Lagnier,' she said earnestly, 'such beautiful hair could
only have belonged to a young person. She must have been in great
distress to part with it. Do you know her? Did she sell it to you?
What is her name? I cannot bear to wear it: I shall be thinking of her
continually.'

'Ah, Mademoiselle Adelaide, that is so like you! Why, I have provided
half the young ladies in Paris with false tresses, and not one has
ever asked me the slightest question as to how or where they were
obtained. Indeed, I should not often have been able to reply. In this
case, however, it is different. I bought it myself, and consequently
can give you a little information respecting it. Yesterday evening, I
was standing at my door in the Rue St Honore, when a young girl,
attracted no doubt by the general appearance of my window, stopped to
admire the various articles exhibited there.