Puck was given over to the care of the groom, while the two young ladies went into Banburys’. It was a very busy time just now. ‘Our latest novelties’ were being scrutinized and pulled about by an eager throng of buyers, and the patience of Banburys’ young men was tried to the verge of martyrdom by ladies who hadn’t quite made up their minds what they wanted, or whether they wanted anything at all. An ordinary individual would have had ample time to study the humours of Banburys’ before being served; but Miss Harefield was known as an excellent customer, and the shop-walker was in a fever till he had found a young man to attend upon her. He was a pale young man, in whose face all the colour had run into pimples, and he had a wild and worried look, which was not unnatural in a youth whose mind had been tortured by all kinds of fanciful objections to, and criticisms upon Banburys’ stock, from nine o’clock that morning, and who had run to and fro over the face of Banburys’, like a new Orestes driven by the Furies, in search of articles that never answered the requirements of his customers, proving always just a little too dear, or too common, too thick or too thin, too dark or too light, too silky or too woolly for the fair buyer. To this tormented youth Beatrix seemed an angel of light, so easily was she pleased, so quickly did she decide upon her purchases. She bought a dozen pairs of gloves, a pile of ribbons, laces, and other trifles in the time that an elderly female in black, a little lower down the counter, devoted to the thrilling question of which particular piece out of a pile of lavender printed cotton would best survive the ordeal of the washtub. ‘What is your sister Clementina’s size?’ inquired Beatrix, looking over a box of gloves. ‘Oh, Beatrix, you mustn’t buy any for her,’ whispered Bella. ‘Yes, I must. And you must tell me her number.’ ‘Six and three-quarters.’ ‘The same as yours. I’ll take a dozen of the six and three-quarters.’ A large Honiton collar and cuffs, after the fashion of the period--a dark age in which rufflings and fichus and all the varieties of modern decorative art were unknown--were chosen for Miss Scales--neck ribbons for the women servants--warm clothing for certain goodies in the village--a noble parcel altogether. The pale and haggard youth felt that he need not quail before the awful eye of Banbury when the day’s takings came to be summed up. After leaving Banburys’, Miss Harefield drove to a chemist’s, and got out alone to make her purchases. ‘I couldn’t get what I wanted there,’ she said, and then drove into one of the narrow streets and pulled up at another chemist’s. She went in this way to no less than six chemists’ shops, entering each alone, and remaining for about five minutes in each. She had a good many little daintily sealed white parcels by the time she had finished this round. ‘Are you going to set up as a doctor?’ Bella asked, laughing.