"
"But I have given you the general idea of it."
"General idea! general idea! Does Madame la Comtesse think that that
will suffice?"
"For an artist like you, Monsieur Martin--"
"Oh, of course--for an artist like me! I can answer for myself, but
how do I know if the tailor has caught madame's style correctly? I
am perfectly competent to compose a coiffure which shall agree
entirely with the type of Madame la Comtesse, but what if the tailor
has been mistaken--what if the robe turns out a disguise rather than
an enhancement? In that case, adieu to the harmony."
Pilar reassured the sorely-tried master, and exchanged glances of
amusement with Wilhelm. She had described him to Wilhelm beforehand
as a Parisian oddity, and invited him to be present during the
visit. While Anne enveloped her mistress in the white dressing-
mantle, Monsieur Martin laid out the battery of combs, brushes, and
tortoise-shell hair-pins provided by the maid, added, out of his own
box, two hand-glasses, and a box of gold-powder, and began to loosen
the countess' abundant tresses. As the golden waves flowed over the
back of the chair to the ground, he murmured, drawing his fingers
repeatedly through the silken mass:
"What a fleece, Madame la Comtesse! It takes a Spaniard to have such
hair.
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