TWO DIANAS IN ALASKA 33 



little what she said or how she said it, and with her 

 husband was travelling to some hot springs at Hoonia, 

 the other side of Sitka. Ruskin said that wherever 

 men are noble they love bright colour. This lady 

 was the acme of nobility, and dazzled every one with 

 the radiance of her peacock plumes. She was an 

 amateur dressmaker, of the variety who do not con- 

 sider it worth while to trouble to supply hooks and 

 eyes, and the entire structure was always apparently 

 dependent on the staying powers of one pin. I used 

 to meditate on the awful happenings if it should fall 

 out. She came on board attired in her latest triumph, 

 a velveteen dress in shades of violet, with a yellow 

 lace collar. Her hair was brushed back with precise 

 neatness, and arranged into an infinitesimal knot held 

 together with one solitary hair-pin. All her pinning 

 arrangements seemed to go in ones. The husband 

 was a pastor of a Seattle church, to which they always 

 referred as " The Episcopalian." He began life as 

 a veterinary surgeon, but, realizing his error in time, 

 fled to the nearest back door and entered the Church. 

 A very kindly, well-intentioned man, harassed and 

 jaded looking. You could tell that he was married on 

 sight. He had long ago discovered that matrimony 

 is very much like a dinner at a big restaurant you 

 get everything but what you want. 



The poor man used to try and join us at the make- 

 believe whist occasionally, but Madam always 

 dragged him back. One night he did manage a 

 rubber, thinking that his lady had retired, but she 

 rattled her cabin door so vigorously, as a signal for 



D 



