coiled like the rushes of a basket, composed a rare, if somewhat
barbaric, example of ingenious art. One could understand such
weavings and coilings being wrought to last intact for a year, or
even a calendar month; but that they should be all demolished
regularly at bedtime, after a single day of permanence, seemed a
reckless waste of successful fabrication.

And she had done it all herself, poor thing. She had no maid, and it
was almost the only accomplishment she could boast of. Hence the
unstinted pains.

She was a young invalid lady--not so very much of an invalid--sitting
in a wheeled chair, which had been pulled up in the front part of a
green enclosure, close to a bandstand, where a concert was going on,
during a warm June afternoon. It had place in one of the minor parks
or private gardens that are to be found in the suburbs of London, and
was the effort of a local association to raise money for some
charity. There are worlds within worlds in the great city, and
though nobody outside the immediate district had ever heard of the
charity, or the band, or the garden, the enclosure was filled with an
interested audience sufficiently informed on all these.

As the strains proceeded many of the listeners observed the chaired
lady, whose back hair, by reason of her prominent position, so
challenged inspection. Her face was not easily discernible, but the
aforesaid cunning tress-weavings, the white ear and poll, and the
curve of a cheek which was neither flaccid nor sallow, were signals
that led to the expectation of good beauty in front. Such
expectations are not infrequently disappointed as soon as the
disclosure comes; and in the present case, when the lady, by a turn