It was followed by a piercing scream from Edward, whom, Maggie concluded, it had awakened.

All this confused her very much and gave her anything but a religious state of mind.
What followed resembled very much the ceremonies with which her father had been accustomed to begin the day, except that her father, with one eye on the bacon, had gabbled at frantic pace through the prayers and Aunt Anne read them very slowly and with great beauty.

She read from the Gospel of St.John: "These things I command you, that ye love one another ..."; but the clear, sweet tones of her voice gave no conviction of a love for mankind.
Maggie looking from that pale remote face to the roughened cheeks and plump body of the kitchen-maid felt that here there could be no possible bond.

When they knelt down she was conscious, as she had been since she was a tiny child, of two things--the upturned heels of the servants' boots and the discomfort to her own knees.

These two facts had always hindered her religious devotions, and they hindered them now.