She had accordingly at first often found that in these colloquies she could only pretend she understood.

Educated as she had rapidly been by her chances at Cocker's, there were still strange gaps in her learning--she could never, like Mrs.Jordan, have found her way about one of the "homes." Little by little, however, she had caught on, above all in the light of what Mrs.Jordan's redemption had materially made of that lady, giving her, though the years and the struggles had naturally not straightened a feature, an almost super-eminent air.

There were women in and out of Cocker's who were quite nice and who yet didn't look well; whereas Mrs.
Jordan looked well and yet, with her extraordinarily protrusive teeth, was by no means quite nice.

It would seem, mystifyingly, that it might really come from all the greatness she could live with.

It was fine to hear her talk so often of dinners of twenty and of her doing, as she said, exactly as she liked with them.