This
was the more creditable to the maid, inasmuch as the dresses--sea-green
glaces--were rather dashed; and the worse they looked, the likelier they
would be to become her property. Half-dashed dresses, however, that would
look rather seedy by contrast, come out very fresh in the country,
especially in winter, when day begins to close in at four. And here we may
observe, what a dreary time is that which intervenes between the arrival of
a guest and the dinner hour, in the dead winter months in the country. The
English are a desperate people for overweighting their conversational
powers. They have no idea of penning up their small talk, and bringing it
to bear in generous flow upon one particular hour; but they keep dribbling
it out throughout the live-long day, wearying their listeners without
benefiting themselves--just as a careless waggoner scatters his load on the
road. Few people are insensible to the advantage of having their champagne
brisk, which can only be done by keeping the cork in; but few ever think of
keeping the cork of their own conversation in.
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