They make them feel moral and yet don't damage their position.

They think a great deal of their position; don't let one of them ever persuade you he doesn't, for if you were to proceed on that basis you'd be pulled up very short." Isabel followed her uncle's argument, which he unfolded with his quaint distinctness, most attentively, and though she was unacquainted with the British aristocracy she found it in harmony with her general impressions of human nature.

But she felt moved to put in a protest on Lord Warburton's behalf.

"I don't believe Lord Warburton's a humbug; I don't care what the others are.

I should like to see Lord Warburton put to the test." "Heaven deliver me from my friends!" Mr.Touchett answered.