This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

like shields; attendants carried bundles of red leather, laces, and outrageous weapons.

Up and down the street groups of tourists were standing to stare; British, wearing pith helmets, monocles, and puttees; French in white flannels and straw hats; open-mouthed Americans; mounted French officers in scarlet and blue drew rein; and from the doorway of the hotel came the landlord, the concierge, porters, waiters, immaculate Arab guides in white and brown, all deferential and hoping to be useful.

"Isn't it perfectly awful!" Mrs. Tinker said to her friend—and yet, though she meant what she said, there was somewhere at the bottom of her voice an elusive and just detectable little note of humorous pride. "I'll certainly let him know what I think of him for making such a spectacle of himself! The idea of his wearing one of those red things like that! He just can't help buying 'em wherever he sees 'em; and the trouble is, he hasn't any self-consciousness, Mrs. Shuler. If he felt chilly he'd put it on; he hasn't the slightest regard for appearances, because he honestly never thinks about 'em. Probably he's lost his hat, and I do wish he'd pull his trousers down! He hasn't