"What, walk in procession?" Jenny gasped.
"Yes, it's not so very dreadful. Who would object? Your mother?"
"She'd make fun of it, but that wouldn't matter. She'd make everyone laugh to hear her telling about me in a procession."
Jenny remembered how her mother had teased her father when she saw him supporting a banner of the Order of Foresters on the occasion of a beanfeast at Clacton.
"Well, your lover?"
Jenny looked sharply at Miss Ragstead to ascertain if she were laughing. The word sent such a pang through her. It was a favorite word of Maurice.
"I haven't got one," she coldly answered.
"No?" said Miss Ragstead, gently skeptical. "I can hardly believe that, you know, for you surely must be a most attractive girl."
"I did have one," said Jenny, surprised out of her reserve. "Only we just ended it all of a sudden."
"My dear," said Miss Ragstead softly, "I don't think you're a very happy little girl. I'm sure you're not. Won't you tell me about it?"