206
WrLDER S HAJVD.,
housekeeping, capable of supporting wives, and these
were difficult to please, set a high price on themselves —
looked the country round at long ranges, and were only
wistfully and meekly glanced after by the frugal vestals
of Gylingden, as they strutted round the corners, or
smoked the pipe of apathy at the reading-room windows.
Think, then, what it was, when Mr. Pummice, of Copal
and Pummice, the splendid house-painters at Dollington,
arrived with his artists and charwoman to give the As-
sembly room its annual touching-up and bedizenment>
preparatory to the Hunt Ball. The Gylingden young
ladies used to peep in, and from the lobby observe the
wenches dry-rubbing and waxing the floor, and the great
Mr. Pummice, with his myrmidons, in aprons and paper
caps, retouching the gilding.
It was a tremendous crisis for honest Mrs. Page, the
confectioner, over the way, who, in legal phrase, had
"the carriage of the supper and refreshments, though
largely assisted by Mr. Battersby, of Dollington. Dur-
ing the few days' agony of preparation that immediately
preceded this notable orgie, the good lady's countenance
bespoke the magnitude of her cares. Though the weath-
er was usually cold, I don't think she ever was cool dur-
ing that period — I am sure she never slept — I don't
think she ate — and I am afraid her religious exercise"
were neglected.
Equally distracting, emaciating, and godless, was the
condition to which the mere advent of this festival reduced
worthy Miss Williams, the dressmaker, who had more
white muslin and young ladies on her hands than she and
her choir of needlewomen knew what to do with. During
this tremendous period Miss Williams hardly resembled
herself — her eyes dilated, her lips were pale, and her
brow corrugated with deep and inflexible lines of fear and