Now that she had to earn most of the income of the household, for herself she had very few personal expenses to curtail.

Thanks to Madame and Phebe, the house was kept in exquisite order, saving Felicita the shock of seeing the rooms she dwelt in dingy and shabby.

Excepting the use of a carriage, there was no luxury that she greatly missed.
As she became more widely known, Felicita was almost compelled to enter into society, though she did it reluctantly.

Old friends of her father's, himself a literary man, sought her out; and her cousins from Riversford insisted upon visiting her and being visited as her relations.

She could not altogether resist their overtures, partly on account of her children, who, as they grew up, ought not to find themselves without friends.