"And bread sauce? Jane, I do hope the bread sauce is hot."
If the reader thinks that Miss Stanbury was indifferent to considerations of the table, the reader is altogether ignorant of Miss Stanbury's character. When Miss Stanbury gave her niece the liver-wing, and picked out from the attendant sausages one that had been well browned and properly broken in the frying, she meant to do a real kindness.
"And now, my dear, there are mashed potatoes and bread sauce. As for green vegetables, I don't know what has become of them. They tell me I may have green peas from France at a shilling a quart; but if I can't have English green peas, I won't have any."
Miss Stanbury was standing up as she said this,—as she always did on such occasions, liking to have a full mastery over the dish.
"I hope you like it, my dear?"
"Everything is so very nice."
"That's right. I like to see a young woman with an appetite. Remember that God sends the good things for us to eat; and as long as we don't take more than our share, and give away something to those who haven't a fair share of their own, I for one think it quite right to enjoy my victuals. Jane, this bread sauce isn't hot. It never is hot. Don't tell me; I know what hot is!"
Dorothy thought that her aunt was very angry; but Jane knew Miss Stanbury better, and bore the scolding without shaking in her shoes.
"And now, my dear, you must take a glass of port wine. It will do you good after your journey."
Dorothy attempted to explain that she never did drink any wine, but her aunt talked down her scruples at once.