i 3d091ef367b6a8bf by Unknown Page B

your blinkers.' If there was any way of translating the word loyalty, then both she and Danny exemplified it, for they had been in her grandfather's service. After his death they had then gone on to see to the house for her father and mother.
    And Jessie had attended her mother through her longI
    82illness, the while contriving successfully to be comforter and friend to herself in those early years, especially those prior to Victoria's appearance on the scene with her father, and with his death she had drawn the little girl into her almost motherly warmth, while at the same time condemning her for her dollyfiedness, as she termed it.And so it had been ever since, except that Bridget knew it was she who held first place in Jessie's affection, as some of her down-to-earth remarks showed when she would say,
    'Fancy feathers make peacocks, but you pluck them and see what's left.' The vision of a plucked peacock would always send a gurgle through Bridget's stomach.Yet Jessie was very much on Victoria's side the day she herself had donned breeches for the first time to ride out: 'Eeh! pet,' she had said, her hands to her cheeks, 'you'll get your name up. If anything'll get your name up that rig-out will. Lass, it's not done. Eeh! the shock of wearin' bloomers on bicycles will be nothin' to you, lass, once you're seen on that road in that rig-out.'And Jessie's opinion had seemed to be the general one: Dreadful, disgraceful, like a
    83so immodestshe'll never be married.That last remark had been made within earshot of her, and she had startled the speaker by going to her shoulder and saying in a soft voice, 'Take off your bustle and I'll take off my breeches and the pattern underneath will be much the same.''Dreadful person. Comes out with the most outrageous remarks. She's originally from Shields, you know. Vulgar, but dirty rich. But her sister, or is it her cousin? she's different altogether, quite a young lady.'Oh, Bridget knew exactly what the opinion of her was among the crowd in which Lionel Filmore moved. And there was something beginning to worry her, too. At first it had amused her, but not any more: the fact that she was considered to be the working partner in the Henry Dene Mordaunt company. She was the one who saw to the business, while the ladylike one took her rightful place and acted according to her position. Yes, and the niggling thought had now connected itself with the ball and Lionel Filmore. Well, she could do nothing about it at the moment; in any case, perhaps he was
    84only amusing himself. She hoped he wasn't, not with Victoria's feelings being at the height they were.
    On an earlier stay here, she had heard that he was seeing a lot of Elizabeth Porter, the cat's daughter, as she herself thought of Kitty Porter. Yet, here he was now, pressing his attentions on Victoria, and the word was pressing, because this was his fourth visit within a matter of three weeks. She had mixed feelings about the man. She didn't know if she liked or disliked him, but as Victoria loved him so deeply, then, she told herself, she had better concentrate on his good points and work up a liking.She pulled a ledger towards her but didn't open it. Her hand flat on the scarred leather, she wondered what it was that directed one's feelings towards another? Was it just the urges of the body? She shook her head at this and her mind answered, No. Yet they were there. Yes, they were there all right. But no; it was something that emanated from the other person. There was no finger that could be put on it. You didn't ask for it or, when it came, welcome it, because such kind of love began with a troublesome feeling: it was based on hopelessness. Yet one couldn't stop
    85it growing, even though in a way despising oneself for the weakness that allowed one to foster such a thought. She had even tried to kill it with ridicule, likening herself to a missionary falling in love with a Zulu who could only communicate by sign language and war dancing.