In a recurrence of her surprising concern of the day before Mrs. Condon
declined to leave her dearest Linda alone; and, their arms caught
together in a surging affection, they walked down Fifth Avenue toward
the hairdresser's. There was a diffused gray sparkle of sunlight--it
was early for the throngs--through which they passed rapidly to the
accompaniment of a rapid eager chatter. Linda wore a deep smooth camel's
hair cape, over which her intense black hair poured like ink, and her
face was shaded by a dipping green velvet hat. Her mother, in one of
the tightly cut suits she affected, had never been more like a perfect
companion.
They saw, in the window of a store for men, a set of violent purple
wool underwear, and barely escaped hysterics at the thought of Mr. Moses
Feldt in such a garb. They giggled idiotically at the spectacle of a
countryman fearfully making the sharp descent from the top of a lurching
omnibus. And then, when they had reached the place of Mrs. Condon's
appointment, stopped at the show of elaborately waved hair on wax heads
and chose which, probably, would resemble the elder and which, in a very
short while now, Linda.
There was an impressive interior, furnished in gray panels and silvery
wood; and the young woman at the desk was more surprisingly waved than
anything they had yet seen. M. Joseph would be ready almost immediately;
and in the meanwhile Mrs. Condon could lay aside her things in
preparation for the hair to be washed. She did this while Linda followed
every movement with the deepest interest.
At the back of the long room was a succession of small alcoves, each
with an important-looking chair and mirror and shelves, a white basin,
water-taps and rubber tubes. Settled, in comfort, Mrs. Condon's hair was
spread out in a bright metal tray fastened to the back of the chair, and
the attendant, a moist tired girl in a careless waist, sprayed the short
thick gold-colored strands.
“My,” she observed, “what some wouldn't give for your shade! Never been
touched, I can see, either. A lady comes in with real Titian, but yours
is more select. It positively is Lillian Russell.” While she talked
her hands sped with incredible rapidity and skill. “The gentlemen don't
notice it; of course not; oh, no! There was a girl here, a true blonde,
but she didn't stay long--her own car, yes, indeed. Married her right
out of the establishment. There wasn't any nonsense to her.
“So this is your little girl! I'd never have believed it. Not that she
hasn't a great deal of style, a great deal--almost, you might say, like
an Egyptian. In the movies last night; her all over. It's a type that
will need studying. Bertha Kalich. But for me--”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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