Madame," he added, "do I look like a policeman?"
The Frenchwoman, remembering the military appearance of the gendarmes
of her native land and the burly make-up of the American policeman,
shook her head.
"Perhaps you are disguise'?" she said, with a smile.
"No, I'm not disguised," Hamilton responded, "and the badge is just to
show that I have the right to ask you these questions."
"I do not know anyzing at all about it," the milliner objected, "but if
you say you have ze right!" she shrugged her shoulders and sat down.
Hamilton promptly picked up his portfolio, opened it on his knee, and
began to put some of the queries required. He got along well enough
while the formal questions about name, address, nature of work, and so
forth were in hand, but the question about the number of hours worked
during the year made the woman most indignant.
"What is ze good of a question like zat?" she asked. "What does it
matter if ze girls work all ze night to finish ze hat for ze gr-rand
occasion, ze wedding, ze garden party? When zey work more, zey get more
pay!"
"Of course," said Hamilton diplomatically, "with such a number of
society people as you deal with that must happen very often.
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