Annie Jayne—the Jaynes of the “Mount”—said:
“She struck me as being a little weak—mentally. Dear mother used to say that no properly-balanced woman should have opinions of her own—outside the domestic circle.”
“I must say that some of her remarks are in bad taste,” Mrs. Turle admitted gently. It was her policy to offend nobody, to speak ill of nobody; ill-natured remarks never helped your social ascent.
“She’s quite incorrigible,” one of the Jeremy Crisps said. “Do you know that she cut Mr. Meadows?”
“She didn’t!”
“She did!”
“The clergyman of the parish! A rural dean!”
“He called on her—merely a parochial call. He said that he liked to be identified with all his parishioners—whatever their views. Could anything be more broad, more generous?”
“Well?”
The Jeremy Crisp girl continued: