Mathilda, who had had time to observe the lady, had not missed the calculating light in the prominent blue eyes, and now noticed with malicious amusement the quick, appraising glance Mrs. Dean cast about her, at her surroundings.
"Mummy, I simply won't be bullied by that ghastly policeman any more!" said Valerie.
"No one will bully you while Mummy is here to protect you, my pet," responded her parent. "But, childie dear, you must run up, and change out of that frock!"
"Oh, hell, Mummy, why?"
"Hush, dear! You know Mummy doesn't like her girlies to use that sort of language! You shouldn't have put on the priMr.ose today: it isn't suitable."
"I know, but I haven't got anything black, and anyway no one else is bothering."
"No, dear, Mummy knows you haven't anything black, but you have your navy. Now, don't argue with Mummy, but run off and change!"
Valerie said that it was a foul nuisance, and the navy suit made her look a hag, but Mathilda was interested to see that she did in fact obey Mrs. Dean's command. She began to suspect that that lady's smile and sugared sweetness masked a will of iron, and looked at her with misgiving.
Mrs. Dean, having smoothed out her gloves, now extricated herself from her fur coat, revealing a figure so tightly corseted about the hips and waist, so enormous above as to appear slightly grotesque. As though to add to the startling effect of this method of dealing with a superabundance of fat, she wore a closely fitting and extremely short skirt. Above the confines of the hidden satin and whalebone, her bust thrust forward like a platform. A short neck supported a head crowned with an elaborate coiffure of rolled curls. Large pearl studs were screwed into the lobes of her ears; and the hat that perched at a daring angle over one eye was very smart, and far too tiny for a woman of her bulk. She was quite as lavishly made-up as her daughter, but could never, Mathilda decided, have been as pretty as Valerie.
Mrs. Dean, having taken covert stock of Mathilda, said: "Such terrible weather, isn't it? Though I suppose one mustn't complain."