day.

From a singular scruple, arising from the same sentiment which had caused
Adrienne to have inscribed on a masterpiece of goldsmith's work the name
of the maker instead of that of the seller, she had wished all these
articles, so costly and sumptuous, to be manufactured by workmen chosen
amongst the most intelligent, honest, and industrious of their class,
whom she had supplied with the necessary materials. In this manner she
had been able to add to the price of the work the profit usually gained
by the middle man, who speculates in such labor; this notable
augmentation of wages had spread happiness and comfort through a hundred
necessitous families, who, blessing the munificence of Adrienne, gave
her, as she said, the right to enjoy her luxury as a good action. Nothing
could be fresher or more charming than the interior of this bedchamber.
Mdlle. de Cardoville had just awoke; she reposed in the middle of this
flood of muslin, lace, cambric, and white silk, in a position full of
sweet grace. Never during the night did she cover that beautiful golden
hair (a certain recipe, said the Greeks, for preserving it for a long
while in magnificence). Every evening, her women arranged her long silky
curls in flat tresses, forming two broad bands, which, descending
sufficiently low almost entirely to conceal the small ear, the rosy lobe
of which was alone visible, were joined to the large plait behind the
head.

This head-dress, borrowed from Greek antiquity, set off to admiration the
pure, fine features of Mdlle. de Cardoville, and made her look so much
younger, that, instead of eighteen, one would hardly have given her
fifteen years of age. Gathered thus closely about the temples, the hair
lost its transparent and brilliant hues, and would have appeared almost
brown, but for the golden tints which played here and there, amid the