Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/147

 Rh of the person for me as soon as possible; yet the man demanded four or six guineas (I don't remember now exactly how much) for his company.” Baroness Riedesel had found acquaintances in London, and among others Schlieffen, the Minister of the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, the man who had made the largest bargain for the sale of German troops to England. She went somewhat into society, but was much kept at home by the care of her infant daughter. “One day,” she writes, “I had an unpleasant adventure in London. I had been advised to buy a little cloak and a hat, without which I could not go out. I was dining at the house of Herr von Hinüber, the Hanoverian Minister. His wife proposed to me to take a walk to St. James's, but omitted to tell me what in our dress was contrary to the English fashion. Little Augusta was dressed in French style, and wore a little hoop and a pretty little round hat. I noticed that people were almost pointing their fingers at us, and asked the cause. She [Frau von Hinüber] told me that I had a fan, which ought not to be carried with a hat, and that my little girl was overdressed, so that we were taken for French people, who were not in favor here.

“The next day I went there again, and we were all dressed in the English fashion, so I thought that no one would notice us; but I was mistaken, for I heard them again calling out, ‘Frenchwomen! Pretty girl!’ I asked the servant why we were taken for French people, and was told it was because I had put ribbons on the children. I tore them off and put them in my pocket, but people still stared at me, and I heard that