A few days afterward, however, he looked into a mirror and smiled a sad smile as he gazed at his naked gums, for he had aged ten years at least.
Very well satisfied with her husband, Dona Victorina had a fine set of false teeth made for him and called in the best tailors of the city to attend to his clothing.

She ordered carriages, sent to Batangas and Albay for the best ponies, and even obliged him to keep a pair for the races.

Nor did she neglect her own person while she was transforming him.

She laid aside the native costume for the European and substituted false frizzes for the simple Filipino coiffure, while her gowns, which fitted her marvelously ill, disturbed the peace of all the quiet neighborhood.
Her husband, who never went out on foot,--she did not care to have his lameness noticed,--took her on lonely drives in unfrequented places to her great sorrow, for she wanted to show him off in public, but she kept quiet out of respect for their honeymoon.

The last quarter was coming on when he took up the subject of the rice-powder, telling her that the use of it was false and unnatural.