The manager looked startled, for the carriage she pointed at was not the phaeton he had supposed she would buy, an elegant vehicle, perfectly suited to a lady, but a high perch model, with huge hind wheels, and the body, which was hung directly over the front axle, fully five feet from the ground. However, it was not his business to dissuade a customer from making an expensive purchase, so he bowed and kept his inevitable reflections to himself.
Hubert, less tactful, said, “I say, Sophy, it really ain’t a lady’s carriage! I only hope you may not overturn it round the first corner!”
“Not I!”
“Cecilia,” suddenly pronounced Mr. Fawnhope, who had been studying the phaeton intently, “must never ride in that vehicle!”
He spoke with such unaccustomed decision that everyone looked at him in surprise, and Cecilia turned quite pink with gratification at his solicitude.
“I assure you, I shan’t overturn it,” said Sophy.
“Every feeling would be outraged by the sight of so exquisite a creature in such a turnout as that!” pursued Mr. Fawnhope. “Its proportions are absurd! It was, moreover, built for excessive speed, and should be driven, if driven it must be, by some down-the-road man with fifteen capes and a spotted neckcloth. It is not for Cecilia!”
“Well!” exclaimed Sophy. “I thought you were afraid I might overturn her in it!”
“I am afraid of that,” replied Mr. Fawnhope. “The very thought of so ungraceful a happening must offend! It does offend! It intrudes its grossness upon the sensibilities; it blurs my vision of a porcelain nymph! Let us immediately leave this place!”
Cecilia, wavering between pleasure at hearing herself likened to a porcelain nymph and affront at having her safety so little regarded, merely said that they could not leave until Sophy had concluded her purchase; but Sophy, a good deal amused, suggested that she should withdraw with her swain to await her in the barouche.