She did not hear
the subsequent conversation in the servants' hall, and it was well
she did not, for, though the insolence that vaunts itself covertly
is hard to bear, it is not so hard as that which visibly hurts the
eye and offends the ear.
"Thank goodness!" said Jasper, "I've saved a bit o' brass, and miss
may be as highty-tighty as she likes. This is what comes o' lettin'
women out o' t' place God put 'em in."
"She's gettin' that near and close," said cook, "I wouldn't stop wi'
her for nowt. It's been, 'Ann, be careful here,' and, 'Ann, don't
waste there,' till I'se fair sick o' it. She'll not get me to mak'
mysen as mean as that. Such like goings on, I nivver!"
"And she's worst to please as iver was!" said Sarah Lister, Miss
Hallam's maid. "I'm sure I don't know what's come over her lately.
She used to give me many a dress and bit o' lace or ribbon. She gives
nowt now. It isn't fair, you know!"
"She's savin' for that foreign chap, that's what it is," said Jasper.
"I'll nivver believe but what t' land goes back to t' male heirs some
way or t' other. It stands to reason that it should; and she's gettin'
a' she can, while she holds t' keys. She'll mak' a mess o' it, see
if she doesn't!"
And with this feeling flavoring the household, Elizabeth found the
last month of the year a dismal and resentful one.
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