He was in two different minds about what it became him to do, after the misfortune that had happened to us.

Ought he to relieve the family, in their present situation, of the responsibility of him as a guest, or ought he to stay on the chance that even his humble services might be of some use?
He decided ultimately that the last course was perhaps the most customary and considerate course to take, in such a very peculiar case of family distress as this was.

Circumstances try the metal a man is really made of.

Mr.Godfrey, tried by circumstances, showed himself of weaker metal than I had thought him to be.

As for the women-servants excepting Rosanna Spearman, who kept by herself--they took to whispering together in corners, and staring at nothing suspiciously, as is the manner of that weaker half of the human family, when anything extraordinary happens in a house.