She was never pert, never exigeant, never romantic, and never humble.

She never bored him, and yet was always ready to be with him when he wished it.

She was never exalted; and yet she bore her high place as became a woman nobly born and acknowledged to be beautiful.
"I declare you have quite made a lover of him," said Lady Clavering to her sister.

When a thought of the match had first arisen in Sir Hugh's London house, Lady Clavering had been eager in praise of Lord Ongar, or eager in praise rather of the position which the future Lady Ongar might hold; but since the prize had been secured, since it had become plain that Julia was to be the greater woman of the two, she had harped sometimes on the other string.

As a sister she had striven for a sister's welfare, but as a woman she could not keep herself from comparisons which might tend to show that after all, well as Julia was doing, she was not doing better than her elder sister had done.