"I suppose, of course, it was Toutou's," said Miss Semaphore with sarcasm.
Miss Belcher was getting the worst of it, when her mother, a large, deaf woman of majestic presence, interposed. She domineered over her daughter and everyone else, and had been silent so far because she had been having the state of the case explained in her ear by Mrs. Whitley.
"Don't mind, Emma," she said suddenly, "That ridiculous dog is in everyone's way, It should be got rid of." Turning to the embarrassed Mrs. Whitley, she made what appeared to be indignant comments on Miss Semaphore, the obnoxious word "old maid" being distinctly audible.
At this awful crisis the boarders stared panic-stricken at Miss Semaphore.
Miss Semaphore, under other circumstances, would have justified their apprehensions. Even she, however, saw it was no use quarrelling with a deaf woman endowed with a terrible tongue. Accordingly, she simply muttered, "Disgraceful!—ill-bred!" and something about "the result of association with such persons," and relapsed into an oppressive silence.
The innocent little dribble of talk dried up
