entered it, caring or thinking as little of _la mode_ as if there were
no such tyrant; and lo! to-day, I found myself ashamed, as I looked
from the Duchess de Guiche, attired in her becoming and pretty
_peignoir à la neige_ and _chapeau du dernier goût_, to my own dress
and bonnet, which previously I had considered very wearable, if not
very tasteful.

Our first visit was to Herbault's, the high-priest of the Temple of
Fashion at Paris; and I confess, the look of astonishment which he
bestowed on my bonnet did not help to reassure my confidence as to my
appearance.

The Duchesse, too quick-sighted not to observe his surprise, explained
that I had been six years absent from Paris, and only arrived the night
before from Italy. I saw the words _à la bonne heure_ hovering on the
lips of Herbault, he was too well-bred to give utterance to them, and
immediately ordered to be brought forth the choicest of his hats, caps,
and turbans.

Oh, the misery of trying on a new _mode_ for the first time, and before
a stranger! The eye accustomed to see the face to which it appertains
enveloped in a _chapeau_ more or less large or small, is shocked at the
first attempt to wear one of a different size; and turns from the
contemplation of the image presented in the glass with any thing but
self-complacency, listening incredulously to the flattering encomiums
of the not disinterested _marchand de modes_, who avers that "_Ce
chapeau sied parfaitement à Madame la Comtesse, et ce bonnet lui va à
ravir_."

I must, however, render M. Herbault the justice to say, that he evinced