Mrs Maria Scattergood
Mrs. Scattergood took Miss Taverner's breath
away. She was a very thin lady of no more than
medium height, certainly on the wrong side of
forty, but dressed in an amazingly youthful fashion,
with her improbably chestnut-coloured hair cropped
short at the back, and crimped into curls in
front, and her sharp, lively countenance painted in
a lavish style that quite shocked the country-bred
Judith.
She was dressed in a semi-transparent gown of
jaconet muslin, made up to the throat with a treble
ruff of pointed lace, and fastened down the back
with innumerable little buttons. Her gown ended in
a broad embroidered flounce, and on her feet she
had lace stockings and yellow kid Roman boots. A
lavender chip hat, tied under her chin with long
yellow ribands, was placed over a small white satin
cap beneath, and she carried a long-handled parasol,
and a silk reticule.
(ch. v)