Re: JANUARY 1, 2005 - NANAE IS DEAD

[Jeff C]

and her coquetry invalidated,
by the superciliousness of the noble lady who would smile if anyone
alluded to any relation existing between her and her dressmaker. When
visited in her negligee, she conceals herself, thus displaying her
charms by this very concealment. In my shop she exposes her charms with
the utmost nonchalance, for he is only a dressmaker - and she is a
woman. Now, her shawl slips down and bares some part of her body, and if
I did not know what that means and what she expects, my reputation would
be gone to the winds. Now, she draws herself up, a priori fashion; now
she gesticulates a posteriori; now, she sways to and fro in her hips;
now, she looks at herself in the mirror and sees my admiring phiz behind
her in the glass; now, she minces her words; now, she trips along with
short steps; now, she hovers; now, she draws her foot after her in
slovenly fashion; now, she lets herself sink softly into an armchair,
whilst I with humble demeanor offer her a flask of smelling salts and
with my adoration assuage her agitation; now, she strikes after me
playfully; now, she drops her handkerchief and, without as much as a
single motion, lets her relaxed arm remain in its pendant position
whilst I bend down low to pick it up and return it to her, receiving a
little patronizing nod as a reward. These are the ways of a lady of
fashion when in my shop. Whether Diogenes made any impression on the
woman who was praying in a somewhat unbecoming posture when he asked her
whether she did not believe the gods could see her from behind - that I
do not know; but this I do know, that if I should say to her ladyship
kneeling down in church: "The folds of your gown do not fall according
to fashion," she would be more alarmed than if she had given offense to
the gods. Woe to