Then Regina sailed down the covered way and got into the omnibus which would carry her to the railway station. What a day of disappointments it was! She found the beauty specialist had not yet returned to town, and there was nobody to take her place. Not that she was unceremoniously told this at the door--oh no; she was shown into a room, and the great lady's secretary informed her that Madame Alvara had been very unwell--she had had such a terribly heavy season--carriages standing a dozen deep at the door all day long--everybody clamoring for Madame's own opinion--and she was so popular, socially. "Madame will not be back until the end of the month; I can make an appointment for the first week in October." "Can you recommend me any harmless lotion to begin with?" said Regina. "Oh no, I should not dare to interfere in Madame's province; I am only the secretary; I arrange appointments, and so on." "But you have a skin like a rose leaf," said Regina, wistfully. "Yes, I have to thank Madame Alvara for that. You see, if I were to give you my recipe you might ruin your skin. Oh, every case has quite individual attention and treatment. The staff only work under Madame Alvara's directions. Yes, they are busy, fairly busy, continuing the treatment of cases which were begun last season. No new cases will be taken till Madame Alvara returns." So Regina had no choice but to make an appointment for the 5th of October, that being the first hour which could be placed at her disposal. She then went off, after disappointment one, to Madame Winifred Polson. She had difficulty in finding the place, and when she did find it, it did not commend itself to her ideas of shrewd common-sense. However, she left a couple of guineas behind her and brought away instead a little box of something which rattled. Then she went and had some lunch--not tea and muffins this time, but a good hot lunch at a famous drapery establishment which she frequently patronized. After that she made some purchases, and then she went in search of an establishment whose advertisements she had noticed in a ladies' paper which she had taken up while waiting for her lunch to be served. "To Ladies," it said. "If you have no lady's maid you cannot possibly care for your own hair as the glory of womanhood should be cared for. Go and consult the ladies who run The Dressing-Room. You can have special treatment for hair that is not quite in health, special brushings for hair that merely needs attention, and can consult with experts as to the most becoming way of wearing your hair." "That is the place for me," said Regina, taking note of the address. And so, after paying her two guineas to Madame Polson, she next turned her steps toward the street wherein she should find The Dressing-Room. CHAPTER XXIII THE DRESSING-ROOM