Her feet,
which were large and plump, were cased in extremely pointed shoes with
large paste buckles; and as she crossed them on the stool provided for
them she showed a considerable amount of rather clumsy ankle. The hands
too were large, common, and ill-kept, and the wrists laden with
bracelets. She was adorned indeed with a great deal of jewellery,
including some startling earrings of a bright green stone. The hat,
which she had carefully placed on a chair beside her, was truly a
monstrosity!--but, as Doris guessed, an expensive monstrosity, such as
the Rue de la Paix provides, at anything from a hundred and fifty to two
hundred and fifty francs, for those of its cosmopolitan customers whom
it pillages and despises. How did the lady afford it? The rest of her
dress suggested a struggle with small means, waged by one who was greedy
for effect, obtained at a minimum of trouble. That she was rouged and
powdered goes without saying.
And the young man? Doris perceived at once his likeness to his father--a
feeble likeness.
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