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Jeremy by Sir Hugh Walpole
page 49 of 322 (15%)
spinster, that the next sewing meeting of the Dorcas Sisterhood
should be held in her house and not at the Rectory. He had told Mrs.
Cole of this on his way upstairs to the nursery. Now Mrs. Cole liked
the Dorcas meetings at the Rectory; she liked the cheerful chatter,
the hospitality, the gentle scandal and her own position as hostess.

She did not like--she never liked--Miss Maple, who was always
pushing herself forward, criticising and back- biting. Mr.
Jellybrand should not have settled this without consulting her. He
had taken it for granted that she would agree. He had said: "I
agreed with Miss Maple that it would be better to have it at her
house. I'm sure you will think as I do." Why should he be sure? Was
he not forgetting his position a little? . . .

Kindest woman in the world, she had seen with a strange un-Christian
pleasure the dog's advance upon the black trousers. Then Mr.
Jellybrand had been obviously afraid. He fancied, perhaps, that she
too had been afraid. He fancied, perhaps, that she was not mistress
in her house, that she could be browbeaten by her sister and her
nurse.

She smiled at him. "There's no reason to be afraid, Mr. Jellybrand.
. . . He's such a little dog."

Then the dog smiled at her.

"Poor little thing," she said. "He must have nearly died in the
snow."

Thus Miss Maple, bitterest of spinsters, influenced, all unwitting,
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