"Indeed and you will do no such thing, Miss Challoner; and there is Joseph going down with the papers to Mr. Drummond's, and will leave it at the Friary as he passes." "Oh, thank you," observed Phillis, gratefully. "Then I will pencil a word to my sister, to let her know why I am detained." And she scrawled a line to Nan: "Trimmings, not Squails: here beginneth the first chapter. Expect me when you see me, and do nothing until I come." There was no side-door at Trimmings's, and Mrs. Trimmings was at the desk, jotting down legs of mutton, and entries of gravy-beef and suet, with a rapidity that would have tried the brain of any other woman than a butcher's wife. When Phillis approached, she looked up at her suavely, expecting custom. "Just half a moment, ma'am," she said, civilly. "Yes, Joe, wing-rib and half of suet to Mrs. Penfold, and a loin of lamb and sweet-bread for No. 12, Albert Terrace. Now, ma'am, what can I do for you?" "I have only come about your dress, Mrs. Trimmings," returned Phillis, in a very small voice; and then she tried not to laugh, as Mrs. Trimmings regarded her with a broad stare of astonishment, which took her in comprehensively, hat, dress, and neat dogskin gloves. "You might have taken up my pen and knocked me down with it," was Mrs. Trimmings's graphic description of her feelings afterwards, as she carved a remarkably fine loin of veal, with a knuckle of ham and some kidney-beans to go with it. "There was the colonel standing by the desk, Andrew; and he turned right round and looked at us both. 'I've come about your dress, Mrs. Trimmings,' she said, as pertlike as possible. Law, I thought I should have dropped, I was that taken aback." Phillis's feelings were none of the pleasantest when Colonel Middleton turned round and looked at her. There was an expression almost of sorrow in the old man's eyes, as he so regarded her, which made her feel hot and uncomfortable. It was a relief when Mrs. Trimmings roused from her stupefaction and bustled out of the desk. "This way, miss," she said, with a jerk of her comely head. But her tone changed a little, and became at once sharp and familiar. "I hope you understand your business, for I never could abide waste; and the way Miss Slasher cut into that gray merino,--and it only just meets, so to say,--and the breadths are as scanty as possible; and it would go to my heart to have a beautiful piece of silk spoiled, flve-and-sixpence a yard, and not a flaw in it." "If I thought I should spoil your dress I would not undertake it," returned Phillis, gently. She felt she must keep herself perfectly quiet with this sort of people. "My sister and I have just made up some very pretty silk and cashmere costumes, and they fitted as perfectly as possible."