Page:A hairdresser's experience in high life.djvu/98

100 me two hundred dollars, which Mr. F thought was a great deal too much for me to handle, and thought one hundred enough.

I took the hundred and went to Saratoga; there I found many and warm friends; many of them wished to raise a subscription for me, but I would not allow them, as I said the railroad was able to pay me, and I meant that they should do so. I received more kindness and attention from the proprietor and housekeeper than I ever did before. It seemed as though every one wanted to do something for me.

On the 12th of September I went back to Albany to get the balance of my money. It was the 18th before I got away from there. They seemed all perfectly astonished at the list of my clothes. Mr. F was aghast at the idea of my paying thirty-five dollars for a moire antique dress, and said his wife never had a dress cost so much. I laughed, and told him I had a dress which cost me fifty dollars, and a mantle to suit which cost me fifty more; and if his highness pleased, I had a suit that cost me one hundred and fifty dollars.

It would have amused any person who knew the extent of my wardrobe, to be behind the door and see their wide-open eyes and hear their catched-up breath when they came to any articles more expensive than others; and when Mr. F came, on the list, to a velvet basquine trimmed with deep fringe, he seemed to think it was an impossibility; but there were so many persons both in Albany and New York that knew the extent of my wardrobe, that he could no longer doubt.

I was never more amused in my life, than at seeing the different railroad gentlemen pick up my list, look