You see there is no choice.

Pooh! contemptible puppy!' 'But I never,'-- Caroline was going to say she never could face him.

'I will not dine.

I will nurse Evan.' 'You have faced him, my dear,' said the Countess, 'and you are to change your head-dress simply to throw him off his scent.' As she spoke the Countess tripped about, nodding her head like a girl.
Triumph in the sense of her power over all she came in contact with, rather elated the lady.
Do you see why she worked her sister in this roundabout fashion?
She would not tell her George Uplift was in the house till she was sure he intended to stay, for fear of frightening her.

When the necessity became apparent, she put it under the pretext of a whim in order to see how far Caroline, whose weak compliance she could count on, and whose reticence concerning the Duke annoyed her, would submit to it to please her sister; and if she rebelled positively, why to be sure it was the Duke she dreaded to shock: and, therefore, the Duke had a peculiar hold on her: and, therefore, the Countess might reckon that she would do more than she pleased to confess to remain with the Duke, and was manageable in that quarter.