"That is exactly why I have come"--her tone was pathetic in its eagerness. "How would you advise me to wear it?"
"I don't know, I never like to give an opinion off-hand. I'll brush it thoroughly, see how it lies, study you face and figure--"
"Too fat? I'd be glad of a little of your complaint," said the little woman, who was herself about as fat as a match.
"Well, perhaps you might do with a little less, but I shouldn't overdo it in the other direction. Of course, there is no doubt that good-looking women are generally those who are inclined to be stout, but keep themselves within reasonable limits. They have the best skin, the best hair, they have so few lines and so few wrinkles, and they escape the withered look of age."
She was brushing softly yet vigorously at Regina's soft brown locks.
"You are beginning to wear your hair off your forehead."
"I have always worn it off my forehead," said Regina, with dignity.
"No--I don't mean that, I mean that the continued brushing in one direction has begun to wear it away, and your forehead seems higher than it really is."
"Now, we ought to contradict that tendency."
"No, a fringe would be out of keeping with your general appearance, and I never advocate a fringe if it can be dispensed with, but you have been wearing your hair so tightly dressed. Now, would you let me shampoo your hair?"
"Oh yes, do what you like," said Regina, with child-like faith and very unchild-like patience.
"It will help you a little--in this way, it gives the hair a fresh start. One should never try to dress one's hair in a new fashion without shaking off as much as possible the old way."
So Regina's hair was washed and dried, and then came the great question of what style of hair-dressing she should adopt.
"I would like you not to look in the glass," said Madame Florence, as the little lady had asked Regina to call her. "I should like you to see the finished picture of yourself without your seeing the process. So often what comes to one as a surprise is so much better than what comes gradually."
She opened a large box on a table at her right hand, and chose from it a light frame of the exact color of Regina's hair. This she put on Regina's head, then she deftly manipulated the abundant tresses, gathered them loosely over the frame into a knot at the top of the head, fixing it here and there with combs, and then slightly waved the looser portions of hair.