“I did, and I didn’t,” she replied.
“What do you mean by you did and you didn’t?”
“Well, you see, child, I wasn’t in the humour to mount them stairs, so I turned my deaf ear to the bell and shut up my hearing one with cotton-wool; after that the bell might ring itself to death.”
“Then, of course, Hannah, I had to go to the door.”
“Had to? Young ladies don’t open hall doors.”
“Anyhow, I did go to the door, and I let the lady in, and she sat by the fire. She’s a very nice lady indeed; she’s about your age, but not scraggy.”
“I’ll thank you, Miss Dumps, not to call me names.”
“But you are scraggy, for that means thin.”
“I may be thin and genteel, and not fat and vulgar, but I won’t have it said of me that I’m scraggy,” said Hannah; “and by you too, Miss Dumps, of all people!”
“Very well, Hannah. She was fat and vulgar, if you like, and you are thin and genteel. Anyhow, I liked her; she was very jolly. She was about your age.”