Her heart beat loudly in her ears, her little thin hands were cold in her great muff.

She had married very young, out of a godly New England minister's home.

She had never known anything like this before, and a sort of general shame of femininity seemed to be upon her.
When she followed her husband into Mrs.Sloane's house she felt herself as burdened with shame--as if she stood in Rebecca's place.
Her little face, all blue with the sharp cold, shrank, shocked and sober, into the depths of her great hood.

She stood behind her husband, her narrow girlish shoulders bending under her thick mantilla, and never looked at the face of anybody in the room.
She did not see William at all.

He stood up before them as they entered; they all nodded gravely.