black, so thick, and so delicately curved, that the eye turned away from
the harsher details of the face to marvel at their grace and strength.
Her figure, too, was straight as a dart, a little portly, perhaps, but
curving into magnificent outlines, which were half accentuated by the
strange costume which she wore. Her hair, black but plentifully shot
with grey, was brushed plainly back from her high forehead, and was
gathered under a small round felt hat, like that of a man, with one
sprig of feather in the band as a concession to her sex. A double-
breasted jacket of some dark frieze-like material fitted closely to her
figure, while her straight blue skirt, untrimmed and ungathered, was cut
so short that the lower curve of her finely-turned legs was plainly
visible beneath it, terminating in a pair of broad, flat, low-heeled and
square-toed shoes. Such was the lady who lounged at the gate of number
three, under the curious eyes of her two opposite neighbors.

But if her conduct and appearance had already somewhat jarred upon their
limited and precise sense of the fitness of things, what were they to
think of the next little act in this tableau vivant? The cabman, red
and heavy-jowled, had come back from his labors, and held out his hand
for his fare. The lady passed him a coin, there was a moment of
mumbling and gesticulating, and suddenly she had him with both hands by
the red cravat which girt his neck, and was shaking him as a terrier
would a rat. Right across the pavement she thrust him, and, pushing him
up against the wheel, she banged his head three several times against
the side of his own vehicle.

"Can I be of any use to you, aunt?" asked the large youth, framing
himself in the open doorway.

"Not the slightest," panted the enraged lady. "There, you low