[Vocabulary] meaning of "with clipping heels"

[KuaiLe]

Dear all,

I came across this sentence in The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters and couldn't understand what "with clipping heels" mean:

"But they were not a man and a girl, they were two women, with clipping heels, and one of them was in a white dress which the moon set glowing like a beacon."

One of the definitions of "clipping" I found in the dictionary is "(prenominal) fast: a clipping pace", which seems to be the most suitable one for this context. But this context also seems to be suggesting that "with clipping heels" is something characteristic of women. So I can't determine if it simply means that they were walking very fast, or if "with clipping heels" can have a totally different meaning. Does anybody have any ideas?

 

[Rover_KE]

'Clicking heels' would make more sense.

 

[Eckaslike]

I find that it conjures an image of "clip-clopping" like a horse. "Clipping" in this sentence could therefore be onamatapoeic and reminiscent of the walking sound of little hooved animals, like goats or sheep.