'Oh! mamma--Mrs. Kendal--I am sure--' Albinia let Maria flounder, but
she only found her way out of the speech with 'Well! and is not it
the most extraordinary!--Mr. Dusautoy--so rude--'

'I should not wonder if you found me almost as extraordinary as Mr.
Dusautoy,' said Albinia.

Why would Miss Meadows always nettle her into saying exactly the
wrong thing, so as to alarm and distress the old lady? That want of
comprehension of playfulness was a strangely hard trial. She turned
to Mrs. Meadows and tried to reassure her by saying, 'You know I have
been always in the clerical line myself, so I naturally take the part
of the parson.'

'Yes, my dear,' said Mrs. Meadows. 'I dare say Mr, Dusautoy is a
very good man, but I wish he would allow his poor delicate wife more
butcher's meat, and I don't think it looks well to see the vicarage
without a man-servant.'

Albinia finally made her escape, and while wondering whether she
should ever visit that house without tingling with irritation with
herself and with the inmates, Lucy exclaimed, 'There, you see I was
right. Grandmamma and Aunt Maria were surprised when I told them
that you said you were an able-bodied woman.'

What would not Albinia have given for Winifred to laugh with her?
What to do now she did not know, so she thought it best not to hear,
and to ask the way to a carpenter's shop to order some book-shelves.