She brought Mrs. Poynsett a beautiful bouquet, for the elderly
spinsters, she said, sat on the stairs and kept up a constant
supply; and she had also some exquisite Genoese wire ornaments from
Cecil's counter, and a set of studs from a tray of polished pebbles
sent up from Vivian's favourite lapidary at Rockpier. She had been
amused to find the Miss Strangeways hunting over it to match that
very simple-looking charm which Lena wore on to her watch, for, as
she said, "the attraction must either be the simplicity of it, or
the general Lena-worship in which those girls indulge."
"How does that dear child look?"
"Fagged, I think, but so does every one, and it was not easy to keep
order, Mrs. Duncombe's counter was such a rendezvous for noisy
people, and Miss Moy was perfectly dreadful, running about forcing
things on people and refusing change."
"And how is poor Anne enduring?"
"Like Christian in Vanity Fair as long as she did endure, for she
retired to the spinsters on the back stairs. I offered to bring her
home, and she accepted with delight, but I dropped her in the
village to bestow her presents.
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