Madame Soudry, respectfully imitating Mademoiselle Laguerre, began by
allowing herself a "mere touch of rouge"; but this delicate tint had
changed through force of habit to those vermilion patches
picturesquely described by our ancestors as "carriage-wheels." The
wrinkles growing deeper and deeper, it occurred to the ex-lady's-maid
to fill them up with paint. Her forehead becoming unduly yellow, and
the temples too shiny, she "laid on" a little white, and renewed the
veins of her youth with a tracery of blue. All this color gave an
exaggerated liveliness to her eyes which were already tricksy enough,
so that the mask of her face would seem to a stranger even more than
fantastic, though her friends and acquaintances, accustomed to this
fictitious brilliancy, actually declared her handsome.

This ungainly creature, always decolletee, showed a bosom and a pair
of shoulders that were whitened and polished by the same process
employed upon her face; happily, for the sake of exhibiting her
magnificent laces, she partially veiled the charms of these chemical
products. She always wore the body of her dress stiffened with
whalebone and made in a long point and garnished with knots of ribbon,
even on the point! Her petticoats gave forth a creaking noise,--so
much did the silk and the furbelows abound.

This attire, which deserves the name of apparel (a word that before
long will be inexplicable), was, on the evening in question, of costly
brocade,--for Madame Soudry possessed over a hundred dresses, each
richer than the others, the remains of Mademoiselle Laguerre's
enormous and splendid wardrobe, made over to fit Madame Soudry in the
last fashion of the year 1808. Her blond wig, frizzed and powdered,
sustained a superb cap with knots of cherry satin ribbon matching
those on her dress. If you will kindly imagine beneath this