As each successive treasure was produced, Ellen Harriott's eyes grew
rounder with astonishment; and when, out of a travelling bag, there
appeared a complete dressing-table outfit of silverware--silver-backed
hair-brushes, silver manicure set, silver handglass, and so forth--she
drew a long breath of wonder and admiration.
It was her first sight of the vanities of the world, the things that
she had only dreamed of. The outfit was not anything extraordinary
from an English point of view, but to the bush-bred girl it was a
revelation.
"What beautiful things!" she said. "Now, when you go visiting to
a country-house in England, do you always take things like these,
all these riding-boots and things?"
"Oh, yes. You wouldn't ride without them."
"And do you take a maid to look after them?"
"Well, you must have a maid."
"And when you travel on the Continent, do you take a maid?"
"I always took one."
"What is Paris like? Isn't it just a dream? Did you go to
the opera?--Have you been on the Riviera?--Oh, do tell me about
those places--is it like you read about in books?--all beautiful,
well-dressed women and men with nothing to do--and did you go to
Monte Carlo?"
This was all poured out in a rush of words; but in Mary's experience
the Continent was merely a place where the Continentals got the
better of the English, and she said so.
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