cloak was outrageously hot and voluminous; it was the dog-days, and
all these things I was condemned to wear in the midst of a crowd of a
thousand people!

Dawdley sent up word, as I was dressing, that his dress had not arrived,
and he took my cab and drove off in a rage to his tailor.

There was no hurry, I thought, to make a fool of myself; so having put
on a pair of plaid trews, and very neat pumps with shoe-buckles, my
courage failed me as to the rest of the dress, and taking down one of
his dressing-gowns, I went down stairs to the study, to wait until he
should arrive.

The windows of the pretty room were open, and a snug sofa, with
innumerable cushions, drawn towards one of them. A great tranquil moon
was staring into the chamber, in which stood, amidst books and all
sorts of bachelor's lumber, a silver tray with a couple of tall Venice
glasses, and a bottle of Maraschino bound with straw. I can see now the
twinkle of the liquor in the moonshine, as I poured it into the glass;
and I swallowed two or three little cups of it, for my spirits were
downcast. Close to the tray of Maraschino stood--must I say it?--a box,
a mere box of cedar, bound rudely together with pink paper, branded with
the name of "Hudson" on the side, and bearing on the cover the arms of
Spain. I thought I would just take up the box and look in it.

Ah heaven! there they were--a hundred and fifty of them, in calm,
comfortable rows: lovingly side by side they lay, with the great moon
shining down upon them--thin at the tip, full in the waist,
elegantly round and full, a little spot here and there shining upon
them--beauty-spots upon the cheek of Sylvia. The house was quite quiet.