But
Miss Nancy was not ashamed of that, for even while she was dressing
she narrated to her aunt how she and Priscilla had packed their
boxes yesterday, because this morning was baking morning, and since
they were leaving home, it was desirable to make a good supply of meat
pies for the kitchen; and as she concluded this judicious remark,
she turned to the Miss Gunns that she might not commit the rudeness of
including them in the conversation. The Miss Gunns smiled stiffly, and
thought what a pity it was that these rich country people, who could
afford to buy such good clothes (really Miss Nancy's lace and silk
were very costly), should be brought up in utter ignorance and
vulgarity. She actually said 'mate' for 'meat', ''appen' for
'perhaps', and 'oss' for 'horse', which, to young ladies living in
good Lytherly society, who habitually said 'orse, even in domestic
privacy and only said 'appen on the right occasions, was necessarily
shocking. Miss Nancy, indeed, had never been to any school higher than
Dame Tedman's: her acquaintance with profane literature hardly went
beyond the rhymes she had worked in her large sampler under the lamb
and the shepherdess; and in order to balance an account, she was
obliged to effect her subtraction by removing visible metallic
shillings and sixpences from a visible metallic total. There is hardly
a servant-maid in these days who is not better informed than Miss
Nancy; yet she had the essential attributes of a lady- high
veracity, delicate honour in her dealings, deference to others, and
refined personal habits- and lest these should not suffice to convince
grammatical fair ones that her feelings can at all resemble theirs,
I will add that she was slightly proud and exacting, and as constant
in her affection towards a baseless opinion as towards an erring
lover.
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