"
It has thus begun, and the husband has declared that he has no such
idea. "If Phipps and Dowdney can come here and eat a bit of mutton,
they are very welcome; if not, let them stay away. And you might as
well ask Phipps's sister; just to have some one to go with you into
the drawing-room."
"I'd much rather go alone, because then I can read,"--or sleep, we
may say.
But her husband has explained that she would look friendless in this
solitary state, and therefore Phipps's sister has been asked. Then
the dinner has progressed down to those costly jellies which have
been ordered in a last agony. There has been a conviction on the
minds of both of them that the simple leg of mutton would have been
more jolly for them all. Had those round balls not been carried about
by a hired man; had simple mutton with hot potatoes been handed to
Miss Phipps by Sarah, Miss Phipps would not have simpered with such
unmeaning stiffness when young Dowdney spoke to her. They would have
been much more jolly. "Have a bit more mutton, Phipps; and where do
you like it?" How pleasant it sounds! But we all know that it is
impossible.
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