My Particular Friend footnotes: The Affair of the Code Duello 4
Beginning with Miss Chivington’s Complaint:
I thought of this possibility as we walked. Perhaps my romanticism had got the better of me. Unfortunately my pondering made me oblivious of the cold until my pattens slipped on the now frozen, muddy street, and I would have fallen had not Charlotte caught me.
pattens: what Jane Austen-influenced story would be complete without the obligatory reference to pattens, that curious footwear device that kept Georgian/Regency women elevated above the mucky street. If ever I am sent back in time to Regency England, I will design, market and sell galoshes and become fabulously wealthy.‘Yes Jane, I sent Margaret to … elicit information from a few selected shopkeepers. It is amazing what a woman d’un certain âge and charm can accomplish.’
d’un certain âge: a certain age; go figure.
‘Oh, and I believe he has also economized by the sale of his barouche,’ Mrs Fitzhugh added.
barouche: a fashionable four-wheeled carriage drawn by two horses