It was all very well for Clem to make
pretence of having transferred her affections to Jack Bartley. Why,
Suke Jollop (ostensibly Clem's bosom friend, but treacherous at
times because she had herself given an eye to Jack)--Suke Jollop
reported that Clem would have killed Pennyloaf had she dared.
Pennyloaf had been going about in fear for her life since that
attack upon her in Myddelton Passage. 'I dursn't marry you, Bob! I
dursn't!' she kept saying, when the proposal was first made. But Bob
laughed with contemptuous defiance. He carried his point, and now he
was going to spend his wedding-day at the Crystal Palace--choosing
that resort because he knew Clem would be there, and Jack Bartley,
and Suke Jollop, and many another acquaintance, before whom he was
resolved to make display of magnanimity.
Pennyloaf shone in most unwonted apparel. Everything was new except
her boots--it had been decided that these only needed soleing. Her
broad-brimmed hat of yellow straw was graced with the reddest
feather purchasable in the City Road; she had a dolman of most
fashionable cut, blue, lustrous; blue likewise was her dress, hung
about with bows and streamers.
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