"
"You don't mean to say as your Deborah encourages a man, Mrs. Cobb! I
don't know what we are a-comin' to. You've always been so particular,
and she seemed so respectable. I AM sorry."
Mrs. Cobb did not quite relish Mrs. Harrop's pity.
"You may be sure, Mrs. Harrop, she was respectable when I took her, and
if she isn't I shan't keep her. I AM particular, more so than most
folk, and I don't mind who knows it." Mrs. Cobb threw back her cap
strings. The denial that she minded who knew it may not appear
relevant, but desiring to be spiteful she could not at the moment find a
better way of showing her spite than by declaring her indifference to
the publication of her virtues. If there was no venom in the substance
of the declaration there was much in the manner of it. Mrs. Bingham
brought back the conversation to the point.
"I suppose you've heard what Mrs. Jenkins says? Your husband also, Mrs.
Harrop, met them both."
"Yes he did. He was not quite in time to see as much as Mrs. Jenkins
saw, and I'm glad he didn't. I shouldn't have felt comfortable if I'd
known he had.
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