where dicky had started to leave her to her own devices lately , he would probably force her to suffer his company for the next several days as he ranted and raved about everything and everyone in london in a manner sure to leave her disheartened and depressed , and then he would insist on taking her out to aid him in purchasing some item or other , only so that he could announce that her choices were poor ones and select something else instead in a show of how little taste she had .