among the masses of her glittering, waving auburn hair rested a
slender diadem of the turquoise again--that whose nameless tint, half
blue, half green, makes it an inestimable treasure among the Navajoes,
as it was once among the Aztecs, who called it the chalchivitl;
each cluster of Maudita's turquoises set in a frost-work of finest
diamonds--a splendid toilette indeed, as fresh and radiant as the
morning dew upon the meadows. When they set out on the love-path, that
is. When they came home from it, and from all the fatigues and fervors
of the German, a metamorphosis. The gauzy dress was so fringed and
trodden on and torn that it seemed to hold together, like many an
ill-assorted marriage, by the cohesion of habit alone; the hair--Madge
Wildfire's was of more respectable appearance; the powder had fallen
on arms and shoulders; and to my critical eyes, if to no others, the
sunset hues remained on only one of Florimonde's cheeks; and those
enticing shadows round Maudita's eyes when she went out--for the best
of eyes are dulled by too much wear and tear--does antimony 'run,'
or had some pugilistic partner given her a 'black eye'? Not that the
damsels came home in such trim on every night of the season: this was
the accumulation of six parties in one night, the last of the Germans,
when the fun grew fast and furious, the figures and the favors more
fantastic; when daylight was breaking ere the champagne breakfast was
eaten; and when the drunken coachman, out all night, had kept them
shivering in the porch an endless while, and had jolted them about the
carriage afterward. But they had had a glorious time: their eyes were
dancing like marsh-lights, their laughter was ringing like a peal of
bells, the jests and bon-mots and flattery they had heard were running
off their lips like rain; they had made Goodness knows what conquests,
they had made Goodness knows how many engagements; and oh, they
were so tired! I ran into their room to see them next day: it was
afternoon, and they were still in bed. There was nothing remarkable in