"Do you apply on your own account, or on behalf of a friend?" asked Trigge.
"On my own," replied the little man.
"What are your qualifications?" demanded Trigge—"what are your qualifications?"
"I fancy I understand something of the business," replied the little man. "I was a perruquier myself, when wigs were more in fashion than they are now."
"Ha! indeed!" said Trigge, laughing. "That must have been in the last century—in Queen Anne's time—eh?"
"You have hit it exactly, sir," replied the little man. "It was in Queen Anne's time."
"Perhaps you recollect when wigs were first worn, my little Nestor?" cried Mr. Trigge.
"Perfectly," replied the little man. "French periwigs were first worn in Charles the Second's time."
"You saw 'em, of course?" cried the barber, with a sneer.
"I did," replied the little man quietly.