The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1904-03-04
CHAPTER IN.
MADEMOISEIJT.

In the morning of the following day
we We're engaged about a business
which troubled me no little. Had it
not been for Jerome I fear I had never
come through it at all with credit.
First, we repaired TO another house
which Jerome possessed in a more
fashionable quarter, and thither by his
directions came a fawning swarm of
tailorS, bootnlakerS, BARRIERS, Wigmak-
ers; vendors of silken hose and men
with laces, jaunty caps, perfumes-it
was q huge task. this making a gentle
mar Of meas Jerome phrased it.
l worried over it grievously in the
beginning, but at length sullenly de-
livered myself into his hands, murmur-
ing an abject prayer for the salvation
of my soul. That, at least, was not to
be remodeled by all their fashionable
g~arniture. These heated discussions
concerning h I was to wear were
not for me to put a voice in. Verify,
I knew nothing and cared naught for
the cut of a shoe my lord of Orleans
had made the style, nor did 1t matter
whether my coat was slashed with
crimson or braided with golden furbe-
lows. Like some wretch a~-quivering
of the palsy l heard the learned doc
tors wrangling over my medicine,
which they must needs hold my nose
to make me swallow. For all their
o''SSS ctiN A"ioliliSo l. liz u We'll
they could carve no sprig of fashion
from so rough a block as L. Certes, I
must now have a squire to faSten this
new arr well upon me, for by my
word, l knew not one garment from the
other by the sight of it. Jerome went
off into fits of laughter seeing me try
ing to struggle into things 1 could not
even guess the use of.
When the worst was over, late in
the afternoon, 1 felt like a play-actor,
dressed for his part, but who, for the
life of him., could not recall one sylla-
bic OF his speech, nor breathe because
OF his wig. Jerome surveyed me with
a half-critical, half-approving scrutiny,
until l essayed to buckle on my sword.
by my lady, sir, that dingy old cut
lass will never do for a drawing room.
AS well a miller's dusty cap to cover
those glorious borrowed curls of thine;
we must get thee one shaped in the
mode" This quip exterminated my
patience.
I the foul fiend with all this ever
lasting style of thine. I know this
blade, have tested 1t on many fields,
II by all the gods at once ri not re-
place 1T with a silly toy"
"A most v%irtuous resolution, a most
cody oath, but my mettlesome friend,
I'll point u thy error"
10 his insinuating argument, even
in this matter, at length I yielded; sur
rendered with the better grace perhaps,
that he provided a most excellent
piece OF steel, which he said had seen
good service: tried it's temper, and
the edge being keen, 1 laid my own
aside with some misdoubtings, casting
off an old friend to strap on a new.
He now added a touch of rouge here
and there, a black line to my broWs
n in the corner of my eyes, stepping
back ever and anon to observe the eff
feet. 1t CALLED me raw, vet I must per-
force submit. When the whole lob was
finished, and I was allowed to sit, I
gained no comfort. My clothes were
too tight In some places, while in 9TH
ers l rocked about as loose as a wash
erwoman's arm in her scrubbing tub.
Jerome must now give me some les
sons in department, he called it. 1t was
but another name for a Sinking and
allowing and a-grimacing, wha was
denominated the etiquette of the
court" Jerome sat himself contented
down, n put me through my PAGES
like some iarrier showing off a foun-
dered nag. 1 more than half believed
he was all the while making game of
me, yet l knew no better. AT any rate
1t was the veriest nonsense.
After a series Of rehearsals Jerome
withdrew to make himself ready, leav-
ing me to practice my new acquire
ments of gait, of gesture, and of
speech. What had taken me the better
part of a laborious day he accom-
plished in a short half hour. Coming
back unannounced he caught me bow
ing and scraping before a mirror, like
a man stricken with idiocy. I felt as
ashamed as though I had been detected
hiding In face of the enemy.
Jerome Knocked and tainted me in
to a fine rage, which he deity pacifed
in wonderment at himself. I should
never have known him for the plain
Jerome. Arrayed in much the same
character Of f1nery which bedecked me,
I could give no accurate description OF
his dress. except that with glossy wig
and a bit of color in his cheeks he