The Discomfiture of Mrs. Trimmings 317 



that she might make some way in time among the 

 country people by lavish subscriptions to local charities, 

 and patronage of whatever public object w^ould consent 

 k) be patronised ; while there was always a chance that 

 the casual visitors to the place might mistake her for a 

 lady. 



When Mrs. Trimmings first went to Eastcliff she 

 had laboured under the delusion that the very picturesque 

 grass-covered cliff before her house was her private 

 property, and she was much annoyed when a more 

 accurate perception of the true state of things had been 

 impressed upon her. Had she owned this, she would 

 have been mistress of a very nice little seaside estate, 

 and, indeed, she tried to assert an ownership, and pre- 

 vent the honest fisherfolk from passing over her green, 

 the consequence being that at high water they would 

 have had to go round inland about three-quarters of a 

 mile to get from one part of the beach to another, unless 

 they went by boat. They are a submissive, simple-minded 

 folk at Eastcliff, and a few of them had begun to make 

 this inland pilgrimage, when the mayor, a kindly old 

 gentleman, ascertained what was going on, and very 

 promptly put a stop to it. The recollection of her 

 interview with his worship made Mrs. Trimmings smart 

 for some weeks afterwards ; but time mitigates unpleasant 

 remembrances, and she had for some time past been in 

 the habit of glaring at anyone who ventured on the hill. 



Besides this weakness Mrs. Trimmings had one great 

 ambition — to obtain an entrance into Covertside House, 

 the residence of Lord Covertside, the local magnate, who 

 lived some three or four miles from Eastcliff'. She had 

 been to a garden party given there for a charitable 

 object, and to a villagers' flower show held in the park, 



