So, like many
other people in a similar case, she amused herself and exercised her
economical instincts by troublesome little thriftinesses, by making
cheap presents, dear bargains, and so forth. She was by nature a
managing woman; and when those very grand people, the butler, the
housekeeper, the head-gardener, and the lady's-maid had divided her
household duties among them, there was nothing left for her to be
clever about, except such little matters as joining the fag-ends of
the bronze sealing-wax sticks which lay in the silver inkstand on the
malachite writing-table, and being good-natured at the cheapest rate
at which her friends could be benefited.
Madam Liberality's best neckerchief had been very pretty when it was
new, and would have been pretty as well as clean still if the
washerwoman had not used rather too hot an iron to it, so that the
blue in the check pattern was somewhat faded. And yet it had felt very
smart as Madam Liberality drove in the carrier's cart to meet the
coach at the outset of her journey. But when she sat against the rich
blue leather of her godmother's coach as they drove up and down the
esplanade, it was like looking at fairy jewels by daylight when they
turn into faded leaves.
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