“How very handsome Hester is!” was the exclamation of both mother and daughter, when Sophia had shut the drawing-room door behind her.
“I wonder,” said Mrs Grey, “that nobody ever told us how handsome we should find Hester. I should like to see what fault Mrs Rowland can find in her face.”
“It is rather odd that one sister should have all the beauty,” said Sophia. “I do not see anything striking in Margaret.”
“Mrs Rowland will say she is plain; but, in my opinion, Margaret is better looking than any of the Rowlands are ever likely to be. Margaret would not be thought plain away from her sister.—I hope they are not fine ladies. I am rather surprised at their bringing a maid. She looks a very respectable person; but I did not suppose they would keep a maid till they knew better what to look forward to. I do not know what Mr Grey will think of it.”
When Hester and Margaret came down, Mrs Grey was ready with an account of the society of the place.
“We are as well off for society,” said she, “as most places of the size. If you were to ask the bookseller at Blickley, who supplies our club, he would tell you that we are rather intellectual people: and I hope you will see, when our friends have called on you, that though we seem to be living out of the world, we are not without our pleasures. I think, Sophia, the Levitts will certainly call.”
“Oh, yes, mamma, to-morrow, I have no doubt.”
“Dr Levitt is our rector,” observed Mrs Grey to her guests. “We are dissenters, as you know, and our neighbour, Mrs Rowland, is very much scandalised at it. If Mr Rowland would have allowed it, she would have made a difficulty on that ground about having her children educated with mine. But the Levitts’ conduct might teach her better. They make no difference on account of our being dissenters. They always call on our friends the first day after they arrive,—or the second, at furthest. I have no doubt we shall see the Levitts to-morrow.”
“And Mrs Enderby, I am sure,” said Sophia, “if she is at all able to stir out.”
“Oh, yes, Mrs Enderby knows what is right, if her daughter does not. If she does not call to-morrow, I shall think that Mrs Rowland prevented her. She can keep her mother within doors, as we know, when it suits her purposes.”