Thus, passing a second-hand clothier’s window, my eye was at once caught by a white dress in the window labelled, “A boon to young ladies about to marry! Let out by the day!” It was made of some soft silky material in the prevailing fashion and thoughtfully cut large enough to accommodate any figure, as of course any superfluity could be pinned over should the hirer happen to be of a sylph-like form! “I s’pose I shall come ter that if any chap ever says ‘Chairs’ ter me!” remarked Belinda Ann, with a last glance at it as we tore ourselves away. “Says what?” I inquired, not very elegantly, I fear. “Chairs!” she replied shortly, for she took the surprise in my voice to imply a doubt of her ever wanting a wedding-dress. “What in all the world has that to do with it?” I asked, after a moment’s puzzled silence. She surveyed me for a second with a sort of pitying scorn for my ignorance, and then proceeded to enlighten me. “Why, yer see, yer may walk out with a feller fer months an’ never get no forrader, so ter speak, or yer may chynge about with another feller an’ no one think any harm of it; but if any on ’em mentions ‘furniture’ to yer, it’s a sign that he means bizness, an’ yer can begin ter think about yer trossax.” This tickled my fancy so much that I doubt if I should ever have stopped laughing if Belinda Ann had not shown signs of temper by remarking huffily, “In coorse I knows as ’ow toffs don’t manage it that wy; but yer arsked me about it, an’ it ain’t bad fer all that.” “I think it’s a perfectly charming plan,” I put in hastily, smothering my mirth as well as I could; but I nearly went off again at the reflection that the innocent remark, “Can I get you a chair?” would be construed by an East End beauty into a proposal of marriage. Belinda Ann did not quite recover her good humour till we arrived at the bride’s mansion, which fortunately was not far off, for once there her smiles returned in full force, and she quite forgot my ill-timed merriment. We stepped straight from the court into the banqueting-hall, without even the formality of a doorstep, and the bride received us in person, her mother being busy in the back premises over her toilette. The heroine of the occasion was of such colossal proportions she might almost have gone about in a show, and her complexion matched her gown, which was of a warm brickdusty red. This was not, however, the wedding garment, for, after having greeted us, she disappeared with Belinda Ann and many apologies to reappear later on in a really elegant grey silk, presented by Miss H. and her sister in fulfilment of a very old promise. She had rather spoilt the effect by hanging round her neck a string of iridescent beads, so large that they looked like homœopathic globules, and wearing the inevitable befeathered hat, this time of a crude violet hue; but otherwise she was all that could be desired, and was immensely admired.