of figure which was her portion, but the poise of the upper body,
free from the seat-back and erect with youthful strength as yet
unspared, showed easily that here, too, was but an indifferent subject
for Sadler's. Dark, where her companion was fair, and with the glossy
texture of her own somber locks showing in the individual roll which ran
back into the absurd _fontange_ of false hair and falser powder, Mary
Connynge made good foil for her bosom friend; though honesty must admit
that neither had yet much concern for foils, since both had their full
meed of gallants. Much seen together, they were commonly known, as the
Morning and Eve, sometimes as Aurora and Eve. Never did daughter of the
original Eve have deeper feminine guile than Mary Connynge. Soft of
speech--as her friend, the Lady Catharine, was impulsive,--slow, suave,
amber-eyed and innocent of visage, this young English woman, with no
dower save that of beauty and of wit, had not failed of a sensation at
the capital whither she had come as guest of the Lady Catharine. Three
captains and a squire, to say nothing of a gouty colonel, had already
fallen victims, and had heard their fate in her low, soft tones, which
could whisper a fashionable oath in the accent of a hymn, and say "no"
so sweetly that one could only beg to hear the word again. It was
perhaps of some such incident that these two young maids of old London
conversed as they trundled slowly out toward the suburb of the city.

"'Twould have killed you, Lady Kitty; sure 'twould have been your end to
hear him speak! He walked the floor upon his knees, and clasped his
hands, and followed me about like a dog in a spectacle. Lord! but I
feared he would have thrown over the tabouret with his great feet. And
help me, if I think not he had tears in his eyes!"

"My friend," said Lady Kitty, solemnly, "you must have better care of
your conduct. I'll not have my father's old friend abused in his own
house." At which they both burst into laughter. Youth, the blithely
cruel, had its own way in this old coach upon the ancient dusty road, as
it has ever had.

But now serious affairs gained the attention of these two fairs. "Tell
me, sweetheart," said Lady Catharine, "what think you of the fancy of my
new dresser? He insists ever that the mode in Paris favors a deep bow,
placed high upon the left side of the 'tower.' Montespan, of the French
court, is said to have given the fashion. She hurried at her toilet, and