'Perhaps I oughtn't to have taken that for granted.'

'Perhaps not. Young women take a good deal for granted now a-days.
But supposing you were right, are you silly enough to think that
richer people are better people, as a matter of course?'

'Not as a matter of course,' said Nancy. 'But I'm quite sure--I
know from what I've seen--that there's more chance of meeting nice
people among them.'

'What do you mean by "nice"?' Mr. Lord was lying back in his chair,
and spoke thickly, as if wearied. 'People who can talk so that you
forget they're only using words they've learnt like parrots?'

'No. Just the contrary. People who have something to say worth
listening to.'

'If you take my advice, you'll pay less attention to what people
say, and more to what they do. What's the good of a friend who won't
come to see you because you live in a small house? That's the plain
English of it. If I had done as I thought right, I should never have
sent you to school at all. I should have had you taught at home all
that's necessary to make a good girl and an honest woman, and have
done my best to keep you away from the kind of life that I hate. But
I hadn't the courage to act as I believed. I knew how the times were
changing, and I was weak enough to be afraid I might do you an
injustice. I did give you the chance of making friends among better
people than your father. Didn't I use to talk to you about your
school friends, and encourage you when they seemed of the right
kind? And now you tell me that they don't care for your society