Now Mrs.Cole liked the Dorcas meetings at the Rectory; she liked the cheerful chatter, the hospitality, the gentle scandal and her own position as hostess.
She did not like--she never liked--Miss Maple, who was always pushing herself forward, criticising and back-biting.

Mr.Jellybrand should not have settled this without consulting her.

He had taken it for granted that she would agree.

He had said: "I agreed with Miss Maple that it would be better to have it at her house.

I'm sure you will think as I do." Why should he be sure?
Was he not forgetting his position a little ?...
Kindest woman in the world, she had seen with a strange un-Christian pleasure the dog's advance upon the black trousers.