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in connection with gardens. She descended
 

      Arline was very angry with her mother for having bound herself over to a ceremonial visit to Shirley before she herself had had an opportunity to [113] study the ground further. Ever since they had come to Long Hill, far from remaining in her ordinary background, Mrs. Murdoch had shown signs of emerging into independent action, more particularly since Mrs. Shirley’s visit. She pronounced herself to be “as fit as a fiddle,” and sent two doctors packing. She also took to wearing short skirts and any kind of an old hat, under the impression that it made her look like an English country gentlewoman, and discovered the phrase “puttering about” in connection with gardens. She descended upon Shirley Village and said, “Oh, you naughty bird!” to the parrot at the Nelson House, and spoke spontaneously to Villagers on their doorsteps, thereby violating deeply incrusted traditions.
      Arline was appalled.
 

ex Meade Minnigerode, Laughing House : A Novel (1920) : 113
Harvard copy/scan (via google books) : link
same (via hathitrust) : link

—

Meade Minnigerode (1887-1967)
wikipedia : link

his online books page : link
 

3 May 2024