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jumped to her feet, ravished at the prospect, and sent my
beautiful book (it is bound in treecalf and contains a couple of
hundred exquisitely coloured plates) flying onto the floor. I
picked it up tenderly, and laid it on my writingtable.
Carlotta, said I, the first thing you have to learn here is
that books in England are more precious than babies in
Alexandretta. If you pitch them about in this fashion you will
murder them and I shall have you hanged.
This checked her sumptuary excitement. It gave her food for
reflection, and she stood humbly penitent, while I went further
into the subject of clothes.
In fact, I concluded, you will be dressed like a lady. She
opened the book at a gaudy picture, _France, XVI(ieme)
SiecleSaltimbanque et Bohemmienne_, and pointed to the female
mountebank. This young person wore a bright green tunic,
bordered with gold and finished off at the elbows and waist with
red, over an undergown of flaring pink, the sleeves of which
reached her wrist; she was crowned with red and white carnations
stuck in ivy.
I will get a dress like that, said Carlotta.
I wondered how far Mrs. McMurray possessed the coloursense, and
I trembled. I tried to explain gently to Carlotta the
undesirability of such a costume for outdoor wear in London; but
with tastes there is no disputing, and I saw that she was but
halfconvinced. She will require training in aesthetics.
She is very submissive. I said, Run away now to Antoinette,
and she went with the cheerfulness of a child. I must rig up a
sittingroom for her, as I cannot have her in here. Also for the
present she must take her meals in her own apartments. I cannot
shock the admirable Stenson by sitting down at table with her in
that improper peignoir. Besides, as Antoinette informs me, the
poor lamb eats meat with her fingers, after the fashion of the
East. I know what that is, having once been present at an
Egyptian dinnerparty in Cairo, and pulled reeking lumps of flesh
out of the leg of mutton. Ugh! But as she has probably not sat
down to a meal with a man in her life, her banishment from my
table will not hurt her feelings. She must, however, be trained
in Christian tablemanners, as well as in aesthetics; also in a
great many other things.
Mrs. McMurray arrived with a tapemeasure, a pencil, and a
notebook.
First, she announced, I will measure her all over. Then I
will go out and procure her a set of outdoor garments, and
tomorrow we will spend the whole livelong day in the shops. Do

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