The gown which was hidden beneath was so much



12 GERMAINE,

worn that the stuff was hardly discernible. It would have
been necessary to examine it very closely to recognize
a former mohair, uncalendered, cut in the folds, frayed
on the bottom, and eaten by the corrosive mud of the
pavements of Paris. The shoes which supported this
lamentable edifice no longer possessed either form or
color. No linen was visible, either at the neck or the
wrists. Sometimes, in crossing a street, the dress was
raised a little on the right, disclosing a gray woollen
stocking and a single skirt of black fustian. The hands
of the duchess, which were reddened by the piercing
cold, were hid beneath her shawl; and if she dragged
her feet in walking, it was not from carelessness, but
simply from the fear of losing her shoes.
