Canon Whittaker was at home and he stayed to talk with his daughter’s visitor for a little while before going to his study. Once the ladies were alone, Mrs Trimmer said rather diffidently, ‘I was wondering, Emily, what you were intending to wear for our outing to Gainsborough?’ ‘To wear?’ Emily echoed, uncomprehendingly. This was a subject to which she never usually gave very much thought, partly because her father had always discouraged any vanity in dress, and partly because she did not have a great deal to choose from. She had never had a dress allowance; had never dreamed of having such a thing, and there were no female relatives in her family to suggest to her father that such provision should be made for her. She saved what she could from the housekeeping money, and then bought for her own needs. Almost inevitably, everything that she purchased tended to be hard-wearing and sensible, and although she never looked shabby, she never looked fashionable either.
