Hers were no mean standards.

She meant to be a sympathetic and helpful wife, the wisest and most conscientious of mothers.
Mrs.Bassett was immensely anxious to please her aunt in all ways; but that intrepid woman's pleasure was not a thing to be counted on with certainty.

She not only sought to please her aunt by every means possible, but she wished her children to intrench themselves strongly in their great aunt's favor.

The reports of such of Mrs.Owen's public benefactions as occasionally reached the newspapers were always alarming.

No one ever knew just how much money Sally Owen gave away; but some of her gifts in recent years had been too large to pass unnoticed by the press.