e, I dare say. But----"

That settled it.

"We'll take them," said I. And after that, being beside myself, I
reconnoitred the place, pointing my stick at other things which took my
fancy. The codfish backed me up at every step, and other codfishes swam
the green sea, with hats doubtless brought from unseen coral caves. Most
of them were enormous hats, but remarkably attractive, in one way or
another, with large drooping brims that dripped roses or frothed with
ostrich plumes. I made Ellaline take off a small, round butter plate she
had on, which was ugly in itself, though somehow it looked like a
saint's halo on her; and murmuring compliments on "madam's" hair, the
siren codfishes tried on one hat after another. I bought all, without
asking the prices, because each one was more becoming to the girl than
its predecessor, and not to have all, would have been like deliberately
destroying so many original Gainsboroughs or Sir Joshuas.

The child's hair, by the way, is extraordinarily vital. It spouts up in
two thick, bright billows over her white forehead, like the beginning of
a strong fountain--a very agreeable foundation for a hat.

Seeing that I had gone mad, the wily codfishes took advantage of my
state, and flourished things before my eyes, at which Emily instantly
forbade me to look. It is true that they were objects not often seen by
bachelor man, except in shop windows and on the advertising pages of
women's magazines; but silk petticoats and cobwebby lace frills have no
Gorgon qualities, and I was not turned to stone by the sight of them. I
even found courage to ask of the company at large if they were the sort
of thing that young ladies ought to have in their wardrobes. The answer
was emphatically in the affirmative.

"Have you already got all you want of them, or could you make use of
more?" I inquired of my ward.

"I shouldn't know myself in such miracles," said she, with a kind of
gasp, her eyes very bright, and her cheeks pinker than they had been
when she was suspected of bridehood. She was still suspected of it;
indeed, I think that in the minds of the black satin codfishes
circumstantial evidence had tinkered suspicion into certainty. But
Ellaline was deaf to the "madam." They might have turned her from wife
into widow without her noticing. She was burning with the desire to
possess those embroidered cobwebs and those frilled petticoats. I don't
know why she should have been more excited about garmen