Charlotte saw that the scene was becoming such as little beseems a busy shop, and she thought of an expedient for gratifying nurse without exposing her feelings to observation. After a consultation with Lucy, she asked Rebecca if she could come to tea at their house, and tell nurse everything that she could recollect about Nicholas. This Rebecca promised to do, though her stay in London was to be very short. She had come only to "improve herself" for a week or two, and to provide a few necessary additional articles for her school-keeping; and her father began to want her at home.
While nurse was wiping her eyes, in preparation for finishing her shopping, Mrs. Draper called upon Rebecca for an opinion respecting the purchase the gipsies were about to make. Lucy followed, being unable to restrain her curiosity; and impatiently did she beckon for her sister to join her when she saw with how splendid an array the counter was spread. Rebecca looked no less delighted.
"Yes, that will be the one," observed Mrs. Draper, seeing that Rebecca's eye rested on a fabric of peculiar richness and beauty. "O, yes, it is expensive; but it is worth the money; and these cheaper silks have grown so common! Half the girls we tell fortunes to have more or less silk about them. Our queen must not be taken for such as live by a yearly wage. She must have of the best, and this must be the one."
"O no, sir," Rebecca replied, drawing back from the gentleman behind the counter, when he pressed some of his goods upon her notice, "O, no, thank you, sir; they are all too dear for me to buy to wear down by the sea-side."
"Yet you and these ladies have seen very pretty silks down by the sea-side," observed Mr. Breme, for it was he who was himself serving his best customers for the hour. "We all know that very pretty silks have been seen by the sea-side; but that day is over."
"I don't know that, indeed," replied Rebecca. "They say that Brighton will be fuller than ever next season, and that is the place for pretty dresses. I suppose there are not many such beauties as this sold anywhere?"
"More than you would suppose, ma'am; particularly of late. There is no end now to the silks that may be lawfully had; and when that is the case, more people think of wearing."
"And yet silks are very little cheaper than they were."
"At present, not much, as you say, ma'am. But people are so pleased to think that they may wear what has been forbidden so long, that they make a very brisk trade, I am happy to say. This will lead to improvement and cheapness, and then people at home and abroad will wear more still. The more you can get of a thing, the more will be wanted. That is the rule, ma'am; from small beer to satin dresses. The more can be had of a thing, the more will be wanted. Could not you fancy one of these beautiful things, ma'am?"
"Very easily," replied Rebecca, "if a fairy would come this moment and give me money to buy one, but not else. I am keeping yonder gentleman waiting with the brown holland, which is what I wanted. I must leave your silk dresses in your shop till I have earned one."