Mrs.Addix, however, was a sort of anomaly.
Coming, as she did, of a shiftless, indolent family, she was yet a splendid worker.

She seemed tireless.

She looked positively radiant while scrubbing, and also more intelligent.

The moment she stopped work, she looked like an automatic doll which had run down: all consciousness of self, or that which is outside self, seemed to leave her face; it was as if her brain were in her toiling arms and hands.
Moreover, she always went to sleep immediately after Harry had gone and Maria was left alone with her.

She sat in her chair and breathed heavily, with her head tipped idiotically over one shoulder.
It was not very lively for Maria during those evenings.