"No, and I am afraid I never shall," answered Mrs. Jardine. "You
are rather an astonishing creature. You're so big, so vital; you
absorb knowledge like a sponge takes water -- "
"And for the same purpose," laughed Kate. "That it may be used
for the benefit of others. Tell me some more about me. I find me
such an interesting subject."
"No doubt!" admitted Mrs. Jardine. "Not a doubt about that! We
are all more interested in ourselves than in any one else in this
world, until love comes; then we soon learn to a love man more
than life, and when a child comes we learn another love, so clear,
so high, so purifying, that we become of no moment at all, and
live only for those we love."
"You speak for yourself, and a class of women like you," answered
Kate gravely. "I'm very well acquainted with many women who have
married and borne children, and who are possibly more selfish than
before. The Great Experience never touched them at all."
There was a tap at the door. Kate opened it and delivered to Mrs.
Jardine a box so big that it almost blocked the doorway.
Mrs. Jardine lifted from the box a big Leghorn hat of weave so
white and fine it almost seemed like woven cloth instead of braid.
There was a bow in front, but the bow was nested in and tied
through a web of flowered gold lace. One velvet end was slightly
long and concealed a wire which lifted one side of the brim a
trifle, beneath which was fastened a smashing big, pale-pink
velvet rose. There was an ostrich plume even longer than the
other, broader, blacker, as wonderful a feather as ever dropped
from the plumage of a lordly bird. Mrs. Jardine shook the hat in
such a way as to set the feather lifting and waving after the
confinement of the box. With slender, sure fingers she set the
bow and lace as they should be, and touched the petals of the
rose. She inspected the hat closely, shook it again, and held it
toward Kate.
"A very small price to pay for the breath of life, which I was
rapidly losing," she said. "Do me the favour to accept it as
casually as I offer it. Did I understand your description
anywhere near right? Is this your hat?"
"Thank you," said Kate. "It is just 'the speaking image' of my
hat, but it's a glorified, sublimated, celestial image. What I
described was merely a hat. This is what I think I have lately
heard Nancy Ellen mention as a 'creation.' Wheuuuuuu!"
She went to the mirror, arranged her hair, set the hat on her
head, and turned.
"Gracious Heaven!" said Mrs. Jardine. "My dear, I understand NOW
why you wore that hat on your journey."