With all his learning, Godfrey had not taught her what William Marston had taught Mary; and now her heart was like a child left alone in a great room.

She had not yet learned that we must each bear his own burden, and so become able to bear each the burden of the other.

Poor friends we are, if we are capable only of leaning, and able never to support.
But the moment Letty's heart had thus cried out against Mary, came a shock, and something else cried out against herself, telling her that she was not fair to her friend, and that Mary, and no other, was the proper person to advise with in this emergency of her affairs.

She had no right to turn from her because she was a little afraid of her.
Perhaps Letty was on the point of discovering that to be unable to bear disapproval was an unworthy weakness.

But in her case it came nowise of the pride which blame stirs to resentment, but altogether of the self-depreciation which disapproval rouses to yet greater dispiriting.
Praise was to her a precious thing, in part because it made her feel as if she could go on; blame, a misery, in part because it made her feel as if all was of no use, she never could do anything right.