of the spectators outside. A pair of white duck trousers that might have
been made of pasteboard, so stiff were they and so defined the crease
ironed at their sides, came first. Our measures were not taken. The
attendant accommodatingly turned them up about ten inches at the bottom,
the edge then coming to our ankles, which somehow looked very
insignificant and as if protruding from paper shoe-boxes that had been
sat upon. These nether garments extended beyond us at either side to
such a distance that that roundness of form which we had fancied this
costume might display was not in the least perceptible. A black alpaca
jacket reaching to our knees came next. These, too, had been warranted
to fit the biggest woman who might visit the Salzkammergut, and one
would easily have taken in all three of us. Elise, always ingenious,
found hers so long on the shoulder that she fitted her elbow into the
armsize. We pinned them up here and pinned them in there, and tucked
our hair into little black caps, and fastened the broad leather belt
about our waists, stuck a lantern in at the side, and announced
ourselves in readiness. The dressing-maid, however, was not done with
us. She brought three very heavy leathern aprons, attached to strong
waist-bands. The leather was three-quarters of an inch thick; and I need
not add that these square aprons did not take graceful folds. Elise,
after regarding the curious article a moment, decided it would be no
addition to her toilet, and politely declined it. Cecilia's _nez
retroussé_ went yet higher up in the air. Feeling that the maid knew
better than I, I meekly put one on as I had been taught from my babyhood
to wear an apron, when a sudden twitch brought it around _behind_. She
quickly adjusted the others in the same fashion. We dared not look at
each other, and each assumed a manner as if attired in the court costume
of the country; but I venture to say that more grotesque, ridiculous
creatures never went out into the daylight, Cecilia, going first, wisely
did not attempt to go through the door full front, and we sidled after