Title
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80374.
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Chapter 12
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80375.
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At the evening meal, which was the first time the whole four sat round the dining-room table together, Scrap appeared.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80376.
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She appeared quite punctually, and in one of those wrappers or tea-gowns which are sometimes described as ravishing. This one really was ravishing. It certainly ravished Mrs. Wilkins, who could not take her eyes off the enchanting figure opposite. It was a shell-pink garment, and clung to the adorable Scrap as though it, too, loved her.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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"What a beautiful dress!"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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exclaimed Mrs. Wilkins eagerly.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80379.
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"What—this old rag?"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80380.
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said Scrap, glancing down at it as if to see which one she had got on.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80381.
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"I’ve had it a hundred years."
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80382.
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And she concentrated on her soup.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80383.
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"You must be very cold in it,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80384.
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said Mrs. Fisher, thin-lipped; for it showed a great deal of Scrap—the whole of her arms, for instance, and even where it covered her up it was so thin that you still saw her.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80385.
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"Who—me?"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80386.
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said Scrap, looking up a moment.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80387.
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"Oh, no."
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80388.
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And she continued her soup.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80389.
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"You mustn’t catch a chill, you know,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80390.
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said Mrs. Arbuthnot, feeling that such loveliness must at all costs be preserved unharmed.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80391.
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"There’s a great difference here when the sun goes down."
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80392.
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"I’m quite warm,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80393.
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said Scrap, industriously eating her soup.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80394.
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"You look as if you had nothing at all on underneath,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80395.
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said Mrs. Fisher.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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"I haven’t. At least, hardly anything,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80397.
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said Scrap, finishing her soup.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80398.
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"How very imprudent,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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said Mrs. Fisher,
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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"and how highly improper."
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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Whereupon Scrap stared at her.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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Mrs. Fisher had arrived at dinner feeling friendly towards Lady Caroline. She at least had not intruded into her room and sat at her table and written with her pen. She did, Mrs. Fisher had supposed, know how to behave. Now it appeared that she did not know, for was this behaving, to come dressed—no, undressed—like that to a meal? Such behaviour was not only exceedingly improper but also most inconsiderate, for the indelicate creature would certainly catch a chill, and then infect the entire party. Mrs. Fisher had a great objection to other people’s chills. They were always the fruit of folly; and then they were handed on to her, who had done nothing at all to deserve them.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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"Bird-brained,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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thought Mrs. Fisher, sternly contemplating Lady Caroline.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80405.
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"Not an idea in her head except vanity."
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80406.
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"But there are no men here,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80407.
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said Mrs. Wilkins,
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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"so how can it be improper? Have you noticed,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80409.
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she inquired of Mrs. Fisher, who endeavoured to pretend she did not hear,
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80410.
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"how difficult it is to be improper without men?"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80411.
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Mrs. Fisher neither answered her nor looked at her; but Scrap looked at her, and did that with her mouth which in any other mouth would have been a faint grin. Seen from without, across the bowl of nasturtiums, it was the most beautiful of brief and dimpled smiles.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80412.
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She had a very alive sort of face, that one, thought Scrap, observing Mrs. Wilkins with a dawn of interest. It was rather like a field of corn swept by lights and shadows. Both she and the dark one, Scrap noticed, had changed their clothes, but only in order to put on silk jumpers. The same amount of trouble would have been enough to dress them properly, reflected Scrap. Naturally they looked like nothing on earth in the jumpers. It didn’t matter what Mrs. Fisher wore; indeed, the only thing for her, short of plumes and ermine, was what she did wear. But these others were quite young still, and quite attractive. They really definitely had faces. How different life would be for them if they made the most of themselves instead of the least. And yet—Scrap was suddenly bored, and turned away her thoughts and absently ate toast. What did it matter? If you did make the best of yourself, you only collected people round you who ended by wanting to grab.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80413.
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"I’ve had the most wonderful day,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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began Mrs. Wilkins, her eyes shining.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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Scrap lowered hers.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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"Oh,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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she thought,
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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"she’s going to gush."
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80419.
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"As though anybody were interested in her day,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80420.
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thought Mrs. Fisher, lowering hers also.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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In fact, whenever Mrs. Wilkins spoke Mrs. Fisher deliberately cast down her eyes. Thus would she mark her disapproval. Besides, it seemed the only safe thing to do with her eyes, for no one could tell what the uncurbed creature would say next. That which she had just said, for instance, about men—addressed too, to her—what could she mean? Better not conjecture, thought Mrs. Fisher; and her eyes, though cast down, yet saw Lady Caroline stretch out her hand to the Chianti flask and fill her glass again.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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Again. She had done it once already, and the fish was only just going out of the room. Mrs. Fisher could see that the other respectable member of the party, Mrs. Arbuthnot, was noticing it too. Mrs. Arbuthnot was, she hoped and believed, respectable and well-meaning. It is true she also had invaded her sitting-room, but no doubt she had been dragged there by the other one, and Mrs. Fisher had little if anything against Mrs. Arbuthnot, and observed with approval that she only drank water. That was as it should be. So, indeed, to give her her dues, did the freckled one; and very right at their age. She herself drank wine, but with what moderation: one meal, one glass. And she was sixty-five, and might properly, and even beneficially, have had at least two.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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"That,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80424.
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she said to Lady Caroline, cutting right across what Mrs. Wilkins was telling them about her wonderful day and indicating the wine-glass,
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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"is very bad for you."
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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Lady Caroline, however, could not have heard, for she continued to sip, her elbow on the table, and listen to what Mrs. Wilkins was saying.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80427.
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And what was it she was saying? She had invited somebody to come and stay? A man?
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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Mrs. Fisher could not credit her ears. Yet it evidently was a man, for she spoke of the person as he.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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Suddenly and for the first time—but then this was most important—Mrs. Fisher addressed Mrs. Wilkins directly. She was sixty-five, and cared very little what sorts of women she happened to be with for a month, but if the women were to be mixed with men it was a different proposition altogether. She was not going to be made a cat’s-paw of. She had not come out there to sanction by her presence what used in her day to be called fast behaviour. Nothing had been said at the interview in London about men; if there had been she would have declined, of course, to come.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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"What is his name?"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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asked Mrs. Fisher, abruptly interposing.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80432.
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Mrs. Wilkins turned to her with a slight surprise.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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"Wilkins,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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she said.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80435.
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"Wilkins?"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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"Yes."
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80437.
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"Your name?"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80438.
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"And his."
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80439.
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"A relation?"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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"Not blood."
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80441.
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"A connection?"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80442.
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"A husband."
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80443.
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Mrs. Fisher once more cast down her eyes. She could not talk to Mrs. Wilkins. There was something about the things she said. . .
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80444.
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"A husband."
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80445.
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Suggesting one of many. Always that unseemly twist to everything. Why could she not say
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80446.
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"My husband"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80447.
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? Besides, Mrs. Fisher had, she herself knew not for what reason, taken both the Hampstead young women for widows. War ones. There had been an absence of mention of husbands at the interview which would not, she considered, be natural if such persons did after all exist. And if a husband was not a relation, who was?
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80448.
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"Not blood."
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80449.
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What a way to talk. Why, a husband was the first of all relations. How well she remembered Ruskin—no, it was not Ruskin, it was the Bible that said a man should leave his father and mother and cleave only to his wife; showing that she became by marriage an even more than blood relation. And if the husband’s father and mother were to be nothing to him compared to his wife, how much less than nothing ought the wife’s father and mother be to her compared to her husband. She herself had been unable to leave her father and mother in order to cleave to Mr. Fisher because they were no longer, when she married, alive, but she certainly would have left them if they had been there to leave. Not blood, indeed. Silly talk.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80450.
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The dinner was very good. Succulence succeeded succulence. Costanza had determined to do as she chose in the matter of cream and eggs the first week, and see what happened at the end of it when the bills had to be paid. Her experience of the English was that they were quiet about bills. They were shy of words. They believed readily. Besides, who was the mistress here? In the absence of a definite one, it occurred to Costanza that she might as well be the mistress herself. So she did as she chose about the dinner, and it was very good.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80451.
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The four, however, were so much preoccupied by their own conversation that they ate it without noticing how good it was. Even Mrs. Fisher, she who in such matters was manly, did not notice. The entire excellent cooking was to her as though it were not; which shows how much she must have been stirred.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80452.
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She was stirred. It was that Mrs. Wilkins. She was enough to stir anybody. And she was undoubtedly encouraged by Lady Caroline, who, in her turn, was no doubt influenced by the Chianti.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80453.
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Mrs. Fisher was very glad there were no men present, for they certainly would have been foolish about Lady Caroline. She was precisely the sort of young woman to unbalance them; especially, Mrs. Fisher recognised, at that moment. Perhaps it was the Chianti momentarily intensifying her personality, but she was undeniably most attractive; and there were few things Mrs. Fisher disliked more than having to look on while sensible, intelligent men, who the moment before were talking seriously and interestingly about real matters, became merely foolish and simpering—she had seen them actually simpering—just because in walked a bit of bird-brained beauty. Even Mr. Gladstone, that great wise statesman, whose hand had once rested for an unforgettable moment solemnly on her head, would have, she felt, on perceiving Lady Caroline left off talking sense and horribly embarked on badinage.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80454.
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"You see,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80455.
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Mrs. Wilkins said—a silly trick that, with which she mostly began her sentences; Mrs. Fisher each time wished to say,
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80456.
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"Pardon me—I do not see, I hear"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80457.
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—but why trouble?—
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80458.
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"You see,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80459.
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said Mrs. Wilkins, leaning across towards Lady Caroline,
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80460.
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"we arranged, didn’t we, in London that if any of us wanted to we could each invite one guest. So now I’m doing it."
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80461.
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"I don’t remember that,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80462.
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said Mrs. Fisher, her eyes on her plate.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80463.
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"Oh yes, we did—didn’t we, Rose?"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80464.
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"Yes—I remember,"
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80465.
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said Lady Caroline.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80466.
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"Only it seemed so incredible that one could ever want to. One’s whole idea was to get away from one’s friends."
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80467.
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"And one’s husbands."
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80468.
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Again that unseemly plural. But how altogether unseemly, thought Mrs. Fisher. Such implications. Mrs. Arbuthnot clearly thought so too, for she had turned red.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80469.
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"And family affection,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80470.
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said Lady Caroline—or was it the Chianti speaking? Surely it was the Chianti.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80471.
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"And the want of family affection,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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said Mrs. Wilkins—what a light she was throwing on her home life and real character.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80473.
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"That wouldn’t be so bad,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80474.
Remove Segment
said Lady Caroline.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80475.
Remove Segment
"I’d stay with that. It would give one room."
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80476.
Remove Segment
"Oh no, no—it’s dreadful,"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80477.
Remove Segment
cried Mrs. Wilkins.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80478.
Remove Segment
"It’s as if one had no clothes on."
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80479.
Remove Segment
"But I like that,"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80480.
Remove Segment
said Lady Caroline.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80481.
Remove Segment
"Really—"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80482.
Remove Segment
said Mrs. Fisher.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80483.
Remove Segment
"It’s a divine feeling, getting rid of things,"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80484.
Remove Segment
said Lady Caroline, who was talking altogether to Mrs. Wilkins and paid no attention to the other two.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80485.
Remove Segment
"Oh, but in a bitter wind to have nothing on and know there never will be anything on and you going to get colder and colder till at last you die of it—that’s what it was like, living with somebody who didn’t love one."
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80486.
Remove Segment
These confidences, thought Mrs. Fisher . . . and no excuse whatever for Mrs. Wilkins, who was making them entirely on plain water. Mrs. Arbuthnot, judging from her face, quite shared Mrs. Fisher’s disapproval; she was fidgeting.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80487.
Remove Segment
"But didn’t he?"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80488.
Remove Segment
asked Lady Caroline—every bit as shamelessly unreticent as Mrs. Wilkins.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80489.
Remove Segment
"Mellersh? He showed no signs of it."
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80490.
Remove Segment
"Delicious,"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80491.
Remove Segment
murmured Lady Caroline.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80492.
Remove Segment
"Really—"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80493.
Remove Segment
said Mrs. Fisher.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80494.
Remove Segment
"I didn’t think it was at all delicious. I was miserable. And now, since I’ve been here, I simply stare at myself being miserable. As miserable as that. And about Mellersh."
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80495.
Remove Segment
"You mean he wasn’t worth it."
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80496.
Remove Segment
"Really—"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80497.
Remove Segment
said Mrs. Fisher.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80498.
Remove Segment
"No, I don’t. I mean I’ve suddenly got well."
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80499.
Remove Segment
Lady Caroline, slowly twisting the stem of her glass in her fingers, scrutinised the lit-up face opposite.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80500.
Remove Segment
"And now I’m well I find I can’t sit here and gloat all to myself. I can’t be happy, shutting him out. I must share. I understand exactly what the Blessed Damozel felt like."
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80501.
Remove Segment
"What was the Blessed Damozel?"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80502.
Remove Segment
asked Scrap.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80503.
Remove Segment
"Really—"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80504.
Remove Segment
said Mrs. Fisher; and with such emphasis this time that Lady Caroline turned to her.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80505.
Remove Segment
"Ought I to know?"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80506.
Remove Segment
she asked.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80507.
Remove Segment
"I don’t know any natural history. It sounds like a bird."
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80508.
Remove Segment
"It is a poem,"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80509.
Remove Segment
said Mrs. Fisher with extraordinary frost.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80510.
Remove Segment
"Oh,"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80511.
Remove Segment
said Scrap.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80512.
Remove Segment
"I’ll lend it to you,"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80513.
Remove Segment
said Mrs. Wilkins, over whose face laughter rippled.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80514.
Remove Segment
"No,"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80515.
Remove Segment
said Scrap.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80516.
Remove Segment
"And its author,"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80517.
Remove Segment
said Mrs. Fisher icily,
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80518.
Remove Segment
"though not perhaps quite what one would have wished him to be, was frequently at my father’s table."
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80519.
Remove Segment
"What a bore for you,"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80520.
Remove Segment
said Scrap.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80521.
Remove Segment
"That’s what mother’s always doing—inviting authors. I hate authors. I wouldn’t mind them so much if they didn’t write books. Go on about Mellersh,"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80522.
Remove Segment
she said, turning to Mrs. Wilkins.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80523.
Remove Segment
"Really—"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80524.
Remove Segment
said Mrs. Fisher.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80525.
Remove Segment
"All those empty beds,"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80526.
Remove Segment
said Mrs. Wilkins.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80527.
Remove Segment
"What empty beds?"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80528.
Remove Segment
asked Scrap.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80529.
Remove Segment
"The ones in this house. Why, of course they each ought to have somebody happy inside them. Eight beds, and only four people. It’s dreadful, dreadful to be so greedy and keep everything just for oneself. I want Rose to ask her husband out too. You and Mrs. Fisher haven’t got husbands, but why not give some friend a glorious time?"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80530.
Remove Segment
Rose bit her lip. She turned red, she turned pale. If only Lotty would keep quiet, she thought. It was all very well to have suddenly become a saint and want to love everybody, but need she be so tactless? Rose felt that all her poor sore places were being danced on. If only Lotty would keep quiet . . .
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80531.
Remove Segment
And Mrs. Fisher, with even greater frostiness than that with which she had received Lady Caroline’s ignorance of the Blessed Damozel, said,
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80532.
Remove Segment
"There is only one unoccupied bedroom in this house."
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80533.
Remove Segment
"Only one?"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80534.
Remove Segment
echoed Mrs. Wilkins, astonished.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80535.
Remove Segment
"Then who are in all the others?"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80536.
Remove Segment
"We are,"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80537.
Remove Segment
said Mrs. Fisher.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80538.
Remove Segment
"But we’re not in all the bedrooms. There must be at least six. That leaves two over, and the owner told us there were eight beds—didn’t he Rose?"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80539.
Remove Segment
"There are six bedrooms,"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80540.
Remove Segment
said Mrs. Fisher; for both she and Lady Caroline had thoroughly searched the house on arriving, in order to see which part of it they would be most comfortable in, and they both knew that there were six bedrooms, two of which were very small, and in one of these small ones Francesca slept in the company of a chair and a chest of drawers, and the other, similarly furnished, was empty.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80541.
Remove Segment
Mrs. Wilkins and Mrs. Arbuthnot had hardly looked at the house, having spent most of their time out-of-doors gaping at the scenery, and had, in the agitated inattentiveness of their minds when first they began negotiating for San Salvatore, got into their heads that the eight beds of which the owner spoke were the same as eight bedrooms; which they were not. There were indeed eight beds, but four of them were in Mrs. Wilkins’s and Mrs. Arbuthnot’s rooms.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80542.
Remove Segment
"There are six bedrooms,"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80543.
Remove Segment
repeated Mrs. Fisher.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80544.
Remove Segment
"We have four, Francesca has the fifth, and the sixth is empty."
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80545.
Remove Segment
"So that,"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80546.
Remove Segment
said Scrap,
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80547.
Remove Segment
"however kind we feel we would be if we could, we can’t. Isn’t it fortunate?"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80548.
Remove Segment
"But then there’s only room for one?"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80549.
Remove Segment
said Mrs. Wilkins, looking round at the three faces.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80550.
Remove Segment
"Yes—and you’ve got him,"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80551.
Remove Segment
said Scrap.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80552.
Remove Segment
Mrs. Wilkins was taken aback. This question of the beds was unexpected. In inviting Mellersh she had intended to put him in one of the four spare-rooms that she imagined were there. When there were plenty of rooms and enough servants there was no reason why they should, as they did in their small, two-servanted house at home, share the same one. Love, even universal love, the kind of love with which she felt herself flooded, should not be tried. Much patience and self-effacement were needed for successful married sleep. Placidity; a steady faith; these too were needed. She was sure she would be much fonder of Mellersh, and he not mind her nearly so much, if they were not shut up together at night, if in the morning they could meet with the cheery affection of friends between whom lies no shadow of differences about the window or the washing arrangements, or of absurd little choked-down resentments at something that had seemed to one of them unfair. Her happiness, she felt, and her ability to be friends with everybody, was the result of her sudden new freedom and its peace. Would there be that sense of freedom, that peace, after a night shut up with Mellersh? Would she be able in the morning to be full towards him, as she was at that moment full, of nothing at all but loving-kindness? After all, she hadn’t been very long in heaven. Suppose she hadn’t been in it long enough for her to have become fixed in blandness? And only that morning what an extraordinary joy it had been to find herself alone when she woke, and able to pull the bed-clothes any way she liked!
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80553.
Remove Segment
Francesca had to nudge her. She was so much absorbed that she did not notice the pudding.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80554.
Remove Segment
"If,"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80555.
Remove Segment
thought Mrs. Wilkins, distractedly helping herself,
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80556.
Remove Segment
"I share my room with Mellersh I risk losing all I now feel about him. If on the other hand I put him in the one spare-room, I prevent Mrs. Fisher and Lady Caroline from giving somebody a treat. True they don’t seem to want to at present, but at any moment in this place one or the other of them may be seized with a desire to make somebody happy, and then they wouldn’t be able to because of Mellersh."
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80557.
Remove Segment
"What a problem,"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80558.
Remove Segment
she said aloud, her eyebrows puckered.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80559.
Remove Segment
"What is?"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80560.
Remove Segment
asked Scrap.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80561.
Remove Segment
"Where to put Mellersh."
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80562.
Remove Segment
Scrap stared.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80563.
Remove Segment
"Why, isn’t one room enough for him?"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80564.
Remove Segment
she asked.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80565.
Remove Segment
"Oh yes, quite. But then there won’t be any room left at all—any room for somebody you may want to invite."
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80566.
Remove Segment
"I shan’t want to,"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80567.
Remove Segment
said Scrap.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80568.
Remove Segment
"Or you ,"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80569.
Remove Segment
said Mrs. Wilkins to Mrs. Fisher.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80570.
Remove Segment
"Rose, of course, doesn’t count. I’m sure she would like sharing her room with her husband. It’s written all over her."
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80571.
Remove Segment
"Really—"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80572.
Remove Segment
said Mrs. Fisher.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80573.
Remove Segment
"Really what?"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80574.
Remove Segment
asked Mrs. Wilkins, turning hopefully to her, for she thought the word this time was the preliminary to a helpful suggestion.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80575.
Remove Segment
It was not. It stood by itself. It was, as before, mere frost.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80576.
Remove Segment
Challenged, however, Mrs. Fisher did fasten it on to a sentence.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80577.
Remove Segment
"Really am I to understand,"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80578.
Remove Segment
she asked,
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80579.
Remove Segment
"that you propose to reserve the one spare-room for the exclusive use of your own family?"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80580.
Remove Segment
"He isn’t my own family,"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80581.
Remove Segment
said Mrs. Wilkins.
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80582.
Remove Segment
"He’s my husband. You see—"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80583.
Remove Segment
"I see nothing,"
Update
Add Segment Below
Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Scrap
Set
80584.
Remove Segment
Mrs. Fisher could not this time refrain from interrupting—for what an intolerable trick.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80585.
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"At the most I hear, and that reluctantly."
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80586.
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But Mrs. Wilkins, as impervious to rebuke as Mrs. Fisher had feared, immediately repeated the tiresome formula and launched out into a long and excessively indelicate speech about the best place for the person she called Mellersh to sleep in.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80587.
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Mellersh—Mrs. Fisher, remembering the Thomases and Johns and Alfreds and Roberts of her day, plain names that yet had all become glorious, thought it sheer affectation to be christened Mellersh—was, it seemed, Mrs. Wilkins’s husband, and therefore his place was clearly indicated. Why this talk? She herself, as if foreseeing his arrival, had had a second bed put in Mrs. Wilkins’s room. There were certain things in life which were never talked about but only done. Most things connected with husbands were not talked about; and to have a whole dinner-table taken up with a discussion as to where one of them should sleep was an affront to the decencies. How and where husbands slept should be known only to their wives. Sometimes it was not known to them, and then the marriage had less happy moments; but these moments were not talked about either; the decencies continued to be preserved. At least, it was so in her day. To have to hear whether Mr. Wilkins should or should not sleep with Mrs. Wilkins, and the reasons why he should and the reasons why he shouldn’t, was both uninteresting and indelicate.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80588.
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She might have succeeded in imposing propriety and changing the conversation if it had not been for Lady Caroline. Lady Caroline encouraged Mrs. Wilkins, and threw herself into the discussion with every bit as much unreserve as Mrs. Wilkins herself. No doubt she was impelled on this occasion by Chianti, but whatever the reason there it was. And, characteristically, Lady Caroline was all for Mr. Wilkins being given the solitary spare-room. She took that for granted. Any other arrangement would be impossible, she said; her expression was,
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80589.
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"Barbarous."
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80590.
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Had she never read her Bible, Mrs. Fisher was tempted to inquire— And they two shall be one flesh? Clearly also, then, one room. But Mrs. Fisher did not inquire. She did not care even to allude to such texts to some one unmarried.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80591.
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However, there was one way she could force Mr. Wilkins into his proper place and save the situation: she could say she herself intended to invite a friend. It was her right. They had all said so. Apart from propriety, it was monstrous that Mrs. Wilkins should want to monopolise the one spare-room, when in her own room was everything necessary for her husband. Perhaps she really would invite somebody—not invite, but suggest coming. There was Kate Lumley, for instance. Kate could perfectly afford to come and pay her share; and she was of her own period and knew, and had known, most of the people she herself knew and had known. Kate, of course, had only been on the fringe; she used to be asked only to the big parties, not to the small ones, and she still was only on the fringe. There were some people who never got off the fringe, and Kate was one. Often, however, such people were more permanently agreeable to be with than the others, in that they remained grateful.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80592.
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Yes; she might really consider Kate. The poor soul had never married, but then everybody could not expect to marry, and she was quite comfortably off—not too comfortably, but just comfortably enough to pay her own expenses if she came and yet be grateful. Yes; Kate was the solution. If she came, at one stroke, Mrs. Fisher saw, would the Wilkinses be regularised and Mrs. Wilkins be prevented from having more than her share of the rooms. Also, Mrs. Fisher would save herself from isolation; spiritual isolation. She desired physical isolation between meals, but she disliked that isolation which is of the spirit. Such isolation would, she feared, certainly be hers with these three alien-minded young women. Even Mrs. Arbuthnot was, owing to her friendship with Mrs. Wilkins, necessarily alien-minded. In Kate she would have a support. Kate, without intruding on her sitting-room, for Kate was tractable, would be there at meals to support her.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80593.
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Mrs. Fisher said nothing at the moment; but presently in the drawing-room, when they were gathered round the wood fire—she had discovered there was no fireplace in her own sitting-room, and therefore she would after all be forced, so long as the evenings remained cool, to spend them in the other room—presently, while Francesca was handing coffee round and Lady Caroline was poisoning the air with smoke, Mrs. Wilkins, looking relieved and pleased, said:
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80594.
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"Well, if nobody really wants that room, and wouldn’t use it anyhow, I shall be very glad if Mellersh may have it."
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80595.
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"Of course he must have it,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80596.
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said Lady Caroline.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80597.
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Then Mrs. Fisher spoke.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80598.
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"I have a friend,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80599.
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she said in her deep voice; and sudden silence fell upon the others.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80600.
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"Kate Lumley,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80601.
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said Mrs. Fisher.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80602.
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Nobody spoke.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80603.
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"Perhaps,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80604.
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continued Mrs. Fisher, addressing Lady Caroline,
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80605.
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"you know her?"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80606.
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No, Lady Caroline did not know Kate Lumley; and Mrs. Fisher, without asking the others if they did, for she was sure they knew no one, proceeded.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80607.
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"I wish to invite her to join me,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80608.
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said Mrs. Fisher.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80609.
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Complete silence.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80610.
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Then Scrap said, turning to Mrs. Wilkins,
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80611.
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"That settles Mellersh, then."
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80612.
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"It settles the question of Mr. Wilkins,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80613.
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said Mrs. Fisher,
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80614.
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"although I am unable to understand that there should ever have been a question, in the only way that is right."
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80615.
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"I’m afraid you’re in for it, then,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80616.
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said Lady Caroline, again to Mrs. Wilkins.
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80617.
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"Unless,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80618.
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she added,
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80619.
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"he can’t come."
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80620.
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But Mrs. Wilkins, her brow perturbed—for suppose after all she were not yet quite stable in heaven?—could only say, a little uneasily,
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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80621.
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"I see him here."
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Mrs. Wilkins
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Mrs. Arbuthnot
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