There sat Aunt Maria fidgeting in the arm-chair; Lucy stood by the
fire; Albinia's countenance sadly different from what it had been in
the morning--weary, impatient, and excited, all that it ought not to
be!
Winifred would have cleared the room at once, but this was not easy,
and poor Albinia was so far gone as to be determined on finishing
that endless thing, an altercation, so all three began explaining and
appealing at once.
It seemed that Mrs. Osborn was requiting Mrs. Kendal's neglect in not
having inquired after her when the Admiral's sister's husband died,
by the omission of inquiries at present; whereat Albinia laughed a
feeble, overdone giggle, and observed that she believed Mrs. Osborn
knew all that passed in Willow Lawn better than the inmates; and Lucy
deposed that Sophy and Loo were together every day, though Sophy knew
mamma did not like it. Miss Meadows said if reparation were not
made, the Osborns had expressed their intention of omitting Lucy and
Sophy from their Twelfth-day party.
To this Albinia pettishly replied that the girls were to go to no
Christmas parties without her; Miss Meadows had taken it very much to
heart, and Lucy was declaiming against mamma making any condescension
to Mrs. Osborn, or herself being supposed to care for 'the Osborn's
parties,' where the boys were so rude and vulgar, the girls so
boisterous, and the dancing a mere romp. Sophy might like it, but
she never did!
Miss Meadows was hurt by her niece's defection, and had come to 'Oh,
very well,' and 'things were altered,' and 'people used to be
grateful to old friends, but there were changes.
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