And she is a careful critic; for on yesterday she eyed
The new dress I was airing with a woman’s natural pride,
And she said: “Oh, how becoming!” and then softly added to it,
“It is really a misfortune that the basque is such a fit.”
Then she said: “If you had heard me yestereve,
I’m sure, my friend,
You would say I am a champion who knows how to defend.”
And she left me with the feeling—most unpleasant, I aver—
That the whole world would despise me if it had not been for her.
Whenever I encounter her, in such a nameless way,