Then Rhoda showed her she was not fit to govern anything, and drove her into service again; and in that condition, having no more cares than a child, and plenty of work to do, and many a present from Rhoda, she had been happy.
But Rhoda, though she forgave blunders, incapacity for business, and waste of money, had always told her plainly there was one thing she never would forgive.
Rhoda Marsh had become a good Christian in every respect but one.

The male rake reformed is rather tolerant; but the female rake reformed is, as a rule, bitterly intolerant of female frailty; and Rhoda carried this female characteristic to an extreme both in word and in deed.

They were only half-sisters, after all; and Mary knew that she would be cast off forever if she deviated from virtue so far as to be found out.
Besides the general warning, there had been a special one.

When she read Mary's first letter from Huntercombe Hall Rhoda was rather taken aback at first; but, on reflection, she wrote to Mary, saying she could stay there on two conditions: she must be discreet, and never mention her sister Rhoda in the house, and she must not be tempted to renew her acquaintance with Richard Bassett.

"Mind," said she, "if ever you speak to that villain I shall hear of it, and I shall never notice you again." This was the galling present and the dark future which had made so young and unsentimental a woman as Mary Wells think of suicide for a moment or two; and it now deprived her of her rest, and next day kept her thinking and brooding all the time her now leaden limbs were carrying her through her menial duties.
The afternoon was sunny, and Sir Charles and Lady Bassett took their usual walk.
Mary Wells went a little way with them, looking very miserable.