paponat who came back that night from the meudon woods where he had gone in search of adventure arrived just in time to take the last boat. he had the good luck to run into tristouse ballerinette there.
"how are you, young lady?" he asked. "i just saw your lover, croniamantal, in the woods. he is on the verge of going mad."
"my lover?" said tristouse. "he is not my lover."
"he is said to be. at least they have been saying he is, in our literary and artistic circles, ever since yesterday."
"they can say whatever they want," said tristouse firmly. "anyway i shall have nothing to be ashamed about in such a lover. is he not handsome and has he not a great talent?"
"you are right. but my, what a pretty hat you have, and what a pretty dress! i am very much interested in the fashions."
"you are always very elegant, mr. paponat. give me the address of your tailor and i shall tell croniamantal about it."
"quite useless, he would not use it," said paponat laughing. "but tell me now, what are the women wearing this year? i have just come from italy and i am not in touch with things. please tell me all about it."
"this year," began tristouse, "the modes are very bizarre and familiar, simple and yet full of fantasy. all material belonging to the different processes of nature may now enter into the composition of a woman's costume. i have seen a robe made of cork. it was certainly as good as the charming evening gowns of towel which created such a rage at premieres. a great couturier is thinking of launching tailor-made costumes of the backs of old books, bound in calf. charming! all literary women will want to wear it, and one can approach them and whisper into their ears under the guise of reading the titles of the books. fish-skeletons are also worn much with hats. you may see delightful young girls, very often, wearing cloaks à la saint-jacques de compostelle; their costume, so it is said, is starred with saint jacques shells. porcelain, stone work and china have suddenly taken an important place in the sartorial art. these materials are worn in belts, on hat-pins, etc.; i have had the good luck to see an adorable reticule all made of the glass eyes that oculists use. feathers are used not only to decorate hats with, but shoes, gloves, and next year they will even be used with umbrellas. shoes are being made of venetian glass and hats out of bohemian crystal. not to mention oil-painted gowns, highly colored woolens, and robes bizarrely spotted with ink. in the spring many will wear dresses made of puffed gold leaf, with pleasant shapes, giving lightness and distinction. our aviatrices will wear nothing else. for the races there will be the hat made of toy balloons, about twenty at a time being used, giving a luxuriant effect, and very diverting explosions from time to time. the mussel-shell will be worn on slippers. and note that they are beginning to dress with living animals. i met a woman who wore on her hat at least twenty birds; canaries, goldfinches, robins, held by a string tied to their feet, all singing at the top of their voices and flapping their wings. the head-dress of an ambassadress, ever since the last neuilly fair is made up of a coil of about thirty snakes. 'for whom are those snakes that hiss overhead?' asked the little romanian attaché with his dacian accent, who was supposed to be quite a ladies' man. i forgot to tell you that last wednesday i saw a lady on the boulevards with a ruff having little mirrors laid together and pasted to the material. in the sunlight the effect was sumptuous. one might have thought it a gold mine on a promenade. later it began to rain and the lady resembled a silver mine. nutshells make pretty buttons, especially if they are interspersed with filberts. a robe embroidered with coffee grains, cloves, cloves of garlic, onions, and bunches of raisins, is proper to wear when visiting. fashion is becoming practical and no longer spurns any object, but ennobles all. it does for these things what romanticists do with words."
"thank you," said paponat, "you have given me a great deal of information and told it charmingly."
"you are too kind," replied tristouse.
