Page:A hairdresser's experience in high life.djvu/127

Rh but I knew what her sickness was, as when Minnie took a tantrum she always feigned sickness.

A few days passed, and we all started, for the East, by way of Washington. All the way Minnie was sour and cross to Noble, and never gave him a pleasant word, though she talked and laughed with many on the cars, that I thought a good deal to low for her even to speak to.

On our arrival at Washington, Noble's family, and numerous others, called on and treated Minnie with great respect. While in company she was all life and gayety, but in private she was sour, morose and fretful. Her conduct made Noble very unhappy. One evening Minnie dressed to go down to the parlor when Noble thought she had indulged in too bright a color; on his saying so, she got very angry and told him she did not use cosmetics at all. He went to her trunk, and there found them, which so provoked her that she kept up the quarrel till quite late in the night. He rang the bell for the hair-dresser, and asked her to find all the cosmetics, and throw them in the fire. Minnie became so enraged, when she heard this, that she screamed out loud enough to raise all in the house; and tried to leave the impression on their minds that her husband had struck her. Then commenced the tragedy. It was like the rolling sea, first a calm and then a storm, till we got to our new home.

Noble's family had apartments provided for them at the hotel. These apartments were elegant, and elegantly furnished. She had many useful and valuable presents, but not the kind Minnie wanted. She had set her heart on a carriage and four, and nothing else would satisfy her. Many ladies would have been