She saw that at all costs she must keep Mrs.Peniston's favour till, as Mrs.
Bart would have phrased it, she could stand on her own legs.

Lily had no mind for the vagabond life of the poor relation, and to adapt herself to Mrs.Peniston she had, to some degree, to assume that lady's passive attitude.

She had fancied at first that it would be easy to draw her aunt into the whirl of her own activities, but there was a static force in Mrs.Peniston against which her niece's efforts spent themselves in vain.
To attempt to bring her into active relation with life was like tugging at a piece of furniture which has been screwed to the floor.

She did not, indeed, expect Lily to remain equally immovable: she had all the American guardian's indulgence for the volatility of youth.
She had indulgence also for certain other habits of her niece's.

It seemed to her natural that Lily should spend all her money on dress, and she supplemented the girl's scanty income by occasional "handsome presents" meant to be applied to the same purpose.