It was always a mooted question in Elliot whether or not Mrs.Jane Maxwell had known of her daughter's marriage.

Not all her subsequent behavior, her meeting the young couple with open arms at the station on their return, and Flora's appearance at church the next Sunday in the silk dress which her mother had concocted during her absence, could quite allay the suspicion, although it prevented it from gaining ground.
All that evening Mrs.Maxwell's courage never flagged.

She entertained her guests as well as a woman of Sparta could have done.
She even had the coolness to prosecute other projects which she had in mind.

She kept Mrs.Field and Lois behind the rest, and walked home with the mother, that Francis might have the girl to himself.
And she went into the house with Mrs.Field, and slipped a parcel into her pocket, while the two young people had a parting word at the gate..