She regards Hawker as Mary's accepted suitor; and though she may think him vulgar, she would sooner die than commit herself so far as to say so.

She has been so long under others, and without an opinion save theirs, that she cannot form an opinion at all." They had turned and were walking home, when the Vicar, sticking his walking-cane upright in the grass, began again.
"It is the most miserable and lamentable thing that ever took place in this world.

Look at my sister again: what a delicate old maid she is! used to move and be respected, more than most governesses are, in the highest society in the land.

There'll be a home for her when I die.
Think of her living in the house with any of the Hawkers; and yet, sir, that woman's sense of duty is such that she'd die sooner than leave her niece.

Sooner be burnt at the stake than go one inch out of the line of conduct she has marked out for herself." The Vicar judged his sister most rightly: we shall see that hereafter.
"A man of determination and strength of character could have prevented it at the beginning, you would say.