doing it, and Mrs. Grantham's anxiety to fill up Patty's time, and
Patty's lack of inventiveness, the pair kept Hetty pretty constantly
near her wit's end.

Concerning her lover she attempted no more confidences. But, alone,
she pondered much on Patty's reproof, which set her arguing out the
whole case afresh. For, absurd though its logic was, it had touched
her conscience. Was it conscience (she asked herself) or but the old
habit of trembling at her father's word, which kept her so uneasy in
disobeying him?

She came to no new conclusion; for a sense of injustice gave a twist
to her thinking from the start. All his daughters held Mr. Wesley in
awe: they never dreamed, for instance, of comparing their lovers with
him in respect of dignity or greatness. They assumed that their
brothers inherited some portion of that greatness, but they required
none in the men to whom they were ready to give their hands; nay,
perhaps unconsciously rejoiced in the lack of it, having lived with
it at home and found it uncomfortable.

They were proud of it, of course, and knew that they themselves had
some touch of it, if but a lunar glow. They read the assurance in
their mother's speech, in her looks; and, moving among the Epworth
folk as neighbours, yet apart, they had acquired a high pride of
family which derived nothing from vulgar chatter about titled, rich
and far-off relatives; but, taking ancestry for granted, found
sustenance enough in the daily life at the parsonage and the letters
from Westminster and Oxford. Aware of some worth in themselves, they
saw themselves pinched of food, exiled from many companions, shut out
from social gatherings for want of pocket-money and decent attire,