Miss Slowcum took a ladylike interest in all kinds of
needlework, and the desire to possess the tatting pattern overcame
her great reluctance to read aloud to the very tart old lady.
Mrs. Mortlock placed herself in the most comfortable arm-chair the
room afforded, and having secured her victim, began instantly to
tyrannize over her.
"Now, Miss Slowcum, read up chirrupy and cheerful please. None of your
drawling, by way of genteel voice, for me--I like my gossip crisp. I
will say this of that dear girl Primrose Mainwaring, that she did her
gossip crisp."
"You really are a very unaccountable person, Mrs. Mortlock," replied
Miss Slowcum. "You begin by abusing Primrose Mainwaring, and then you
praise her in the most absurd manner. I hope the refined reading of a
cultivated lady is not to be compared to the immature utterances of a
school-girl. If that is so, Mrs. Mortlock, even for the sake of the
tatting pattern, I cannot consent to waste my words on you."
"Oh, my good creature," said Mrs. Mortlock, who by no means wished to
be left to solitude and herself, "you read in a very pretty style of
your own--obsolete it may be--h'm--I suppose we must expect
that--mature it certainly is; yes, my dear, quite mature.
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