“Yes, I daresay you would!” sneered Mrs. Fenchurch; “why the materials alone of such a dress would cost at least ten pounds.”
“I have ten pounds,” was the unexpected reply; then, colouring a little in answer to her aunt’s sharp interrogative glance, “uncle gave it to me for a Christmas box.”
For a moment Mrs. Fenchurch was speechless; she had never heard a word of this present, and to tell the truth, Uncle Tom when he placed the ten-pound note in the girl’s hand had said:
“This is just a little secret between you and me.” Now it was a secret no longer!
Mrs. Fenchurch’s feelings were altogether too much for her. She hastily collected her patterns, rose, and without a word flounced out of the room.
It seemed to Mrs. Fenchurch, that this simple schoolgirl was obtaining an extraordinary and disastrous ascendancy not only in the village, but in the household. The servants—little country chits, whom she had herself trained since they went out of pinafores—would do anything for Miss Glyn. Sam the pug (Mrs. Fenchurch’s own private dog) had handed over his heart to the girl, and attached himself to her exclusively—and as for Tom, he was her slave! It was Letty, Letty, Letty, all day; and when this girl began to make her appearance in a wider circle, would she, Mrs. Fenchurch—influential Mrs. Fenchurch—have to take a back seat?
It was also evident to Mrs. Fenchurch, that of late this interloper had developed in many ways, and was inclined to enter into conversation, and even to offer opinions! This sort of thing must be nipped without delay. Once she began to take an inch, it would soon become an ell—the inch, would be the selection of her ball-gown. It was too ridiculous that a girl of seventeen who had never been to a dance in her life, should dare to set up her taste in opposition to her own.
With a stern resolve implanted in her mind, Mrs. Fenchurch sat down and wrote off to London, ordering materials, which included the white brocade, and green satin trimming.
In two or three days the order had arrived, and after breakfast, she summoned Letty into her bedroom—a delightful chamber with large bow windows and bright chintzes, facing full south, and overlooking the lawns.
“You want to see me, aunt?” she asked as she entered (inwardly quaking) and awaited instructions.