Upon which extraordinary observation she herself opened the door and stood until the visitor passed out.
You may be a beauty, and you may be the lawful wife of an English peer, but it is difficult to keep your dignity when you are turned out of a shop by a miserable working-woman as if you were the last of the last. Only by doing murder on her offender could the notorious Lady Sanquhar, who had been once the respected wife of an honest Spanish merchant, have redeemed the situation from utter ignominy. But as she could not do murder in actual fact, she only did it with her eyes, as, swaying more than ever, she went forth.
Pamela shut the door; the four assistants stared at her with one accord. They had not known such an exciting morning for a long time.
“Upon my word, Miss Pounce,” said Polly Popple, “you take a deal upon yourself, you do.”
Pamela sat down, rather white about the lips, breathing quickly through dilated nostrils.
“If it had got known that I’d sold as much as a feather to that creature,” she said, “Madame Mirabel might as well put up her shutters, for there’s not a lady of quality would have crossed the threshold of her showroom again.”
CHAPTER XII
In which my Lady Kilcroney Insists on the Duty
of Morality.
“If you please, my Lady, might I speak to your Ladyship?”
My Lady Kilcroney looked up from the sorrows of Miss Clarissa Harlowe, which she was particularly enjoying, and gazed at her handmaiden.