"When is Patrick coming?" Nancy asked; and the Rector turned to Bee.
"On Tuesday," Bee told them. "What I can't decide is the best way of spreading the news in the district."
"That's easy," Nancy said. "Just tell Mrs. Gloom."
Mrs. Gloom kept the sweets-tobacco-and-newspaper shop in the village. Her real name was Bloom, but her relish for disaster caused her to be known, first by the Ledingham and Ashby children, and later by all and sundry, as Mrs. Gloom.
"Or you could send yourself a postcard. The post office is almost as good. That is what Jim Bowden did when he jilted the Heywood girl. Sent his mother a telegram announcing his wedding. The fuss was all over before he came back."
"I'm afraid we are going to be at the exact centre of the fuss until the nine days' wonder is over," Bee said. "One must just put up with it."
"Ah, well, my dear, it's a nice sort of fuss," Nancy said, comforting.
"Yes. But the situation is so-so incalculable. It's like-like — "
"I know," Nancy said, agreeing. "Like walking on jelly."
"I was going to say picking one's way over a bog, but I think the jelly is a better description."