And she was not a woman to meet trouble half-way.

One of her greatest qualities was that she did not unduly worry.

(Hilda might say that she did not worry enough, letting things go.) In spite of her cold, she yielded with more gusto than usual to the meal, and even said that if Florrie 'continued to shape' they would have hot toast again.

Hot toast had long since been dropped from the menu, as an item too troublesome.
As a rule the meals were taken hurriedly and negligently, like a religious formality which has lost its meaning but which custom insists on.
Hilda could not but share her mother's satisfaction.

She could not entirely escape the soft influence of the tranquillity in which the household was newly bathed.