time, fatigued him almost beyond endurance; but his wife was as brilliant, tactful, and helpful as ever, and still mindful of her husband's inter- ests, begged Mrs. Seaton to assist at her levee and "not to desert the standard altogether." A miniature exquisitely painted on ivory sets forth the Mrs. Madison of those days, as a still blooming dame with a turban of some soft white stuff, showing, however, a wider mar- gin of coal-black curls than the Quakeress cap of old. Ear-drops (she had a pair, of amethyst, hung in chains in shape of a letter M) and a neck- lace and the bunch of rose-buds set jauntily in the front of the turban give an effect of full- dress, as befits the gown of velvet cut low over the shoulders, with short, puffed sleeves, from beneath which fall full undersleeves of white. A filmy neckerchief of lace, worn rather off than over the shoulders, completes the pic- turesque and altogether pleasing costume. -167- |