To be respectable, to do what others expect of you, is the backbone of all their virtue.

It has been said, we are a nation of shopkeepers.

If that is true, then all the shops are in one street, packed tight, the one against the other.

For we are a nation of neighbours too, prone to do what is being done next door, and a lax king upon the throne of England could turn our morals upside down.

All things are fashions--even moralities--they take longer to come and longer to go, but they change with the rest of things nevertheless, and we follow, doing what is at the moment the thing to do.
In Mrs.Hewson's eyes, as she looked up at Sally, was a considerate inquiry blent with curiosity, touched with suspicion which she tried in vain to conceal.
"Going out to dinner, Miss Bishop ?" she asked.
"Yes." "Oh--that's nice for you--isn't it ?" "Very." Though Janet had finished her breakfast, she waited on with amusement concealed behind an expressionless exterior.
"Of course, Mr.Arthur can afford it," Mrs.Hewson went on.