'I beg your pardon,' she said. 'It is only a fancy
of my own. I am afraid that I have many fancies for my friends to
bear with. You see I have so fine a name of my own, that I have a
fellow-feeling for those under the same affliction; and I believe
some servants like an alias rather than be teased for their finery,
so I shall give Miss Eweretta her choice between that and her
surname.
The old lady looked good-natured, and that matter blew over; but Miss
Meadows fell into another complication of pros and cons about writing
for the woman's character, looking miserably harassed whether she
should write, or Mrs. Kendal, before she had been called upon.
Albinia supposed that Mrs. Wolfe might call in the course of the
week; but this Miss Meadows did not know, and she embarked in so many
half speeches, and looked so mysterious and significant at her
mother, that Albinia began to suspect that some dreadful truth was
behind.
'Perhaps,' said the old lady, 'perhaps Mrs. Kendal might make it
understood through you, my dear Maria, that she is ready to receive
visits.'
'I suppose they must be!' said Albinia.
'You see, my dear, people would be most happy, but they do not know
whether you have arrived. You have not appeared at church, as I may
say.'
'Indeed,' said Albinia, much diverted by her new discoveries in the
realms of etiquette, 'I was rather in a cupboard, I must allow.
Ought we to have sailed up the aisle in state in the Grandison
pattern? Are you ready?' and she glanced up at her husband, but he
only half heard.
Pages:
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37