He decrees the colors that shall be worn,
decides whether dresses shall be short or long, whether paniers
shall be adopted or discarded, whether ruches and puffs and
flowers shall be allowed, and in what form; and his subjects, the
so-called elegant women of Paris, obey him implicitly.
Madame d'Argeles would personally have preferred less finery,
perhaps, but it would not have done for her to be out of the
fashion. She wore an imperceptible hat, balanced on an immense
pyramidal chignon, from which escaped a torrent of wavy hair.
"What a beautiful woman!" exclaimed the dazzled Chupin, and
indeed, seen from this distance, she did not look a day more than
thirty-five--an age when beauty possesses all the alluring charm
of the luscious fruit of autumn. She was giving orders for the
drive, and her coachman, with a rose in his buttonhole, listened
while he reined in the spirited horse. "The weather's superb,"
added Chupin. "She'll no doubt drive round the lakes in the Bois
de Boulogne----"
"Ah, she's off!" interrupted M. Fortunat. "Run, Victor, run! and
don't be miserly as regards carriage hire; all your expenses shall
be liberally refunded you."
Chupin was already far away. Madame d'Argeles's horse went
swiftly enough, but the agent's emissary had the limbs and the
endurance of a stag, and he kept pace with the victoria without
much difficulty. And as he ran along, his brain was busy. "If I
don't take a cab," he said to himself, "if I follow the woman on
foot, I shall have a perfect right to pocket the forty-five sous
an hour--fifty, counting the gratuity--that a cab would cost.
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