... but it's the juxtaposition of _where_ she suddenly segues into “How does Miss Smith do?" that drew my attention, as in, Miss B had sort of made a connection somehow between Harriet and Mr Elton. Just a conjecture of mine. But it seems that some of these juxtapositions of seemingly disconnected things can be meaningful, where Miss Bates's ramblings are concerned, i.e. they're not quite so rambling as they might appear at first glance.