Mrs.Nicholas was almost as strict as Mrs.
Bolton herself, and, having no children of her own, would not have sympathised at all in any desire to procure for Hester the wicked luxury of a lover.

The second son Daniel joined the party with his wife, but he had married too late to have grown-up children.

His wife was strict too,--but of a medium strictness.

Teas, concerts, and occasional dinner parties were with her permissible;--as were also ribbons and a certain amount of costly array.

Mrs.Nicholas was in the habit of telling Mrs.
Daniel that you cannot touch pitch and not be defiled,--generally intending to imply that Mrs.Robert was the pitch; and would harp on the impossibility of serving both God and mammon, thinking perhaps that her brother-in-law Robert and mammon were one and the same.