His thin, but shapely legs were in the tightest of pantaloons, over which were a glossy pair of Hessian boots with silken tassels where they met the knee. An extremely tight tail coat of a dark bottle green was buttoned over his breast, leaving exposed a goodly portion of a buff waistcoat below the bottom buttons, while the coat collar rose up like a protecting erection, as high as the wearer's ears, and touched and threatened to tilt forward the curly brimmed hat. Two tiny points of a shirt collar appeared above the sides of an enormous stock which rigidly prisoned the neck; a delicate projection of cambric frilling rose from the breast; the hands were tightly gloved, one holding a riding-whip, the top of which was furnished with a broad-rimmed square eyeglass; and beneath the buff vest hung, suspended by a broad, black watered-silk ribbon, a huge bunch of gold seals and keys, one of the former being an enormous three-tabled topaz, which turned in its setting at the wearer's will. Such was the aspect of the Master of the Ceremonies in morning costume-- the man whose services were sought by every new arrival for introduction to the Assembly Room and to the fashionable society of the day--the man who, by unwritten canons of the fashionable world, must needs be consulted for every important fete or dance, and whose offerings from supplicants--he scorned to call them clients--were supposed to yield him a goodly income, and doubtless would do so, did the season happen to be long, and society at Saltinville in force.