"Ah! that's just what we don't know. I shan't marry a shoe-black, because I don't dare. So you think I'd better not ask Miss Todd. Perhaps she wouldn't get on well with Mr Maguire."
"I had them both together once, my dear, and she made herself quite unbearable. You've no idea what kind of things she can say."
"I should have thought Mr Maguire would have given her as good as she brought," said Miss Mackenzie.
"So he did; and then Miss Todd got up and left him, saying out loud, before all the company, that it was not fair for him to come and preach sermons in such a place as that. I don't think they have ever met since."
All this made Miss Mackenzie very thoughtful. She had thrown herself into the society of the saints, and now there seemed to be no escape for her; she could not be wicked even if she wished it. Having got into her convent, and, as it were, taken the vows of her order, she could not escape from it.
"That Mr Rubb that I told you of is coming down here," she said, still speaking to Miss Baker of her party.
"Oh, dear! will he be here when you have your friends here?"
"That's what I intended; but I don't think I shall ask anybody at all. It is so stupid always seeing the same people."
"Mr Rubb is—is—is—?"
"Yes; Mr Rubb is a partner in my brother's house, and sells oilcloth, and things of that sort, and is not by any means aristocratic. I know what you mean."