or to a mere caprice, or, what is more likely than either, certain skillful hints which I had dropped from time to time: but she appeared no more in the distorted semblances of masculine attire which had impressed me so unfavourably in the first days of our acquaintance. Instead, she was now arrayed in the simple, white variety of material which some women use to clothe their daughters withal, and others for their spare-room curtains: or else it was a silk-shirt effect, and a trim, shortish walking-skirt. In either, she was far from plain, although at first I had thought her distinctly so. She had her share of freckles; but, with them, good eyes and teeth, and a kind of clear under-complexion which was very pleasing. I think, not only that I showed some appreciation of the change in her attire, but that my approbation gratified her. All women are on the outlook for that kind of thing, and, of course, the approval of a man of my own experience was flattering to
