Granted, England was mostly bombed, but it was after a European war that affected all of them, including this Maltese family, I'm sure. Why was it so outrageous to think Jean had been shot? She could have been doing who-knows-what during the war (and obviously was), so why did the Maltese lady act so outraged when Jean said she was shot?
Was it that unlikely? Anything could have brought it about.
Her personna at that meeting, wearing pearls and fur, didn't seem like the sort of female to have been in harms way during the war. To me, it made sense to think she was making it up.
shareGranted, but Jean was supposed to be a woman benefitting from shady dealings as was the Maltese lady, so that meant you were encountering some harsh surroundings. It wasn't like Jean was supposed to have just emerged from a meeting with the King, so being shot was within that range.
Mainly it was just a few years after the war, so it could have been anything. Jean could have been in a neighborhood where a bomb was dropped. Or it could have been from illness why she was limping and using a can, polio perhaps.
There just didn't seem to be any reason for the Maltese lady to protest so much when Jean said she was shot. Oh, I loved the bit, Jean showing her the wound, but life had been offering a few more rougher deals around that time.
Being shot on the street may not have been that common in every day London back then, not like it has become here in today's America, but still, it was after the war.
Jean told Minnie "I wasn't always a librarian" which I got to mean there had been something else she knew about and how to do than even Bletchley; she had other secrets. It was a shadier world back then, before and during the war. Anything could have been possible. I don't see why the Maltese lady got so worked up about it.
My take was that the Maltese lady was thinking Jean was a proper lady. She didn't take her seriously. Remember Millie was selling to women that couldn't get these items... stocking, perfume and the like. Maybe she was thinking Jean was an Enlgish housewife and in the "small time", but when saw her wound, she knew she was the real deal?
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Mainly it was the Maltese Lady's protest when Jean said she was shot. She was so outraged, but again, it was just after the war. No one was discriminated against. Even a proper lady could be shot, as well as Jean was not allegedly in a respectable venue if you were dealing in the black market.
Plus, Jean could have had the limp because of polio or some other childhood illness, or pretty much anything.
But again, in this instance, it really didn't seem like it would be that shocking to believe she had been shot.