‘I don’t care for her moral qualities, but I do bargain for a little outward decency, and some respect for the world’s opinion.’
‘You will like her, Nina, when you know her.’
‘I shall profit by the warning. I’ll take care not to know her.’
‘She is one of the oldest, I believe the oldest, friend our family has in the world.’
‘What a sad confession, child; but I have always deplored longevity.’
‘Don’t be supercilious or sarcastic, Nina, but help me with your own good sense and wise advice. She has not come over in the best of humours. She has, or fancies she has, some difference to settle with papa. They seldom meet without a quarrel, and I fear this occasion is to be no exception; so do aid me to get things over pleasantly, if it be possible.’
‘She snubbed me the only time I met her. I tried to help her off with her bonnet, and, unfortunately, I displaced, if I did not actually remove, her wig, and she muttered something “about a rope-dancer not being a dexterous lady’s-maid.”’
‘O Nina, surely you do not mean—’
‘Not that I was exactly a rope-dancer, Kate, but I had on a Greek jacket that morning of blue velvet and gold, and a white skirt, and perhaps these had some memories of the circus for the old lady.’
‘You are only jesting now, Nina.’