that was when the nature of my most egregious offense against her began to be revealed : all these weeks i had been limping about the assembly rooms , leaning on the arms of garrulous old busy-bodies , and making no attempt to improve my appearance , but rather sitting around pretending to sip the dreadful waters and looking wistful , as if i were a true invalid instead of an artful , self-willed girl with a minor injury that was entirely due to my own foolishness and a propensity for catching colds which she was not at all certain was not deliberate , etc , etc .