"If I send a driver," I said, "you'll lend me the span, won't you?"

"Oh, yes."

But all at once I decided to do without the whole rig. I went back to
my room and had an hour's enjoyment making myself up as a lady dressed
for travel. For a woman I was of just a fine stature. In years I
looked a refined forty. My hands were not too big for black lace
mitts, my bosom was a success, and my feet, in thin morocco, were out
of sight and nobody's business. A little oil and a burnt match
darkened my eyebrows, my wig sat straight, under the weest of bonnets I
wore a chignon, behind one ear a bunch of curls, and, unseen at one
side of a modest bustle, my revolver. Though I say it myself, I
managed my crinoline with grace.

["That was pritty co'rect," the costumer remarked. "Humph!" said
Chester. The three mesdames exchanged glances, and the reading went
on.]




XI

Leaving a note on her door to tell our landlady that business would
keep me away an indefinite time, I got out at the front gate
unobserved, and with a sweet dignity that charmed me with myself walked
away under a bewitching parasol, well veiled.