He was a terrible old man to swear , too , '' added Mrs. Frederick , dropping into irrelevant reminiscence . `` He spent a long while in a mining camp in his younger days and he never got over it -- the habit of swearing , I mean . It would have made your blood run cold , my dear , to have heard him go on at times . And yet he was a real good old man every other way . He could n't help it someway . He tried to , but he used to say that profanity came as natural to him as breathing . It used to mortify his family terribly . Fortunately , none of them took after him in that respect . But he 's dead -- and one should n't speak ill of the dead . I must go and get Mattie Penhallow to do my hair . I would burst these sleeves clean out if I tried to do it myself and I do n't want to dress over again . You wo n't be likely to talk to Romney about Lucinda again , my dear Cecilia ? '' `` Fifteen years ! '' murmured Mrs. George helplessly to the dahlias . `` Engaged for fifteen years and never speaking to each other ! Dear heart and soul , think of it ! Oh , these Penhallows ! '' Meanwhile , Lucinda , serenely unconscious that her love story was being mouthed over by Mrs. Frederick in the dahlia garden , was dressing for the wedding . Lucinda still enjoyed dressing for a festivity , since the mirror still dealt gently with her . Moreover , she had a new dress .
Now , a new dress -- and especially one as nice as this -- was a rarity with Lucinda , who belonged to a branch XXXXX the Penhallows noted for being chronically hard up .
after at for if into of over that to with