Though she would hardly have admitted it, even to herself, she regretted the way in which everything at Old Place was now allowed to go "slack." She knew it to be bad for her sisters.

It wasn't as if they did any real housework or gave useful help in the kitchen.

Dolly tried to do so in a desultory way, but in the end it was she, Betty, who kept everything going in this big, rambling old house, with the help of the old nurse and a day girl from the village.
Timmy gave a little cackle, and Jack felt annoyed.

He looked across at his half-brother with a feeling akin to dislike.

But Jack Tosswill was truly attached to his step-mother.