"If one demanded the price!" said Madame Dépine (who had already done so twice).
"The day will come when one's nieces will be married."
"But scarcely when New Year's Day shall cease to be," the "Princess" sighed.
"One will be enough. You go." Madame Dépine rather dreaded the _coiffeur_, whom intercourse with jocose students had made severe.
But Madame Valière shrank back shyly. "No, let us both go." She added, with a smile to cover her timidity, "Two heads are better than one."
"You are right. He will name a lower price in the hope of two orders." And, pushing the "Princess" before her like a turret of defence, Madame Dépine wheeled her into the ladies' department.
The _coiffeur_, who was washing the head of an American girl, looked up ungraciously. As he perceived the outer circumference of Madame Dépine projecting on either side of her turret, he emitted a glacial "_Bon jour, mesdames._"
"Those grey wigs--" faltered Madame Valière
"I have already told your friend." He rubbed the American head viciously.
Madame Dépine coloured. "But--but we are two. Is there no reduction on taking a quantity?"
"And why then? A wig is a wig. Twice a hundred francs are two hundred francs."
"One hundred francs for a wig!" said Madame Valière, paling. "I did not pay that for the one I wear."
"I well believe it, madame. A grey wig is not a brown wig."
The _coiffeur_ gave angry rubs at the head, in time with his explosive phrases. "You want real hair, I presume--and to your measure--and to look natural--and _convenable_!" (Both old ladies shuddered at the word.) "Of course, if you want it merely for private theatricals--"
"Private theatricals!" repeated Madame Dépine, aghast.
"A _comédienne's_ wig I can sell you for a bagatelle. That passes at a distance."
Madame Valière ignored the suggestion. "But why should a grey wig cost more than any other?"
The _coiffeur_ shrugged his shoulders. "Since there are less grey hairs in the world--"
"_Comment!_" repeated Madame Valière, in amazement.
"It stands to reason," said the _coiffeur_. "Since most persons do not live to be old--or only live to be bald." He grew animated, professorial almost, seeing the weight his words carried to unthinking bosoms. "And since one must provide a fine hair-net for a groundwork, to imitate the flesh-tint of the scalp, and since each hair of the parting must be treated separately, and since the natural wave of the hair must be reproduced, and since you will also need a block for it to stand on at nights to guard its shape--"