But before he had been there an hour he was laughing with the girls as though such an enterprise as theirs was the best joke in the world.

And when a day and a night had passed, Mrs.
Shand was deep among his shirts and socks, and had already given him much advice about flannel and soft soap.

'I know Maria would like to go out with you,' said the youngest daughter on the third day, a girl of twelve years old, who ought to have known better, and who, nevertheless, knew more than she ought to have done.
'Indeed Maria would like nothing of the kind,' said the young lady in question.
'Only, Mr.Caldigate, of course you would have to marry her.' Then the child was cuffed, and Maria declared that the proposed arrangement would suit neither her nor Mr.Caldigate in the least.

The eldest daughter, Harriet, was engaged to marry a young clergyman in the neighbourhood, which event, however, was to be postponed till he had got a living; and the second, Matilda, was under a cloud because she would persist in being in love with Lieutenant Postlethwaite, of the Dragoons, whose regiment was quartered in the town.

Maria was the third.