"I don't like to be kissed and fussed over," said she.
"You mustn't speak so to your aunt," said Harry, when Aunt Maria had gone out of the room.

"I don't know what we should have done without her." "You pay her, don't you, father ?" asked Maria.
"Yes, I pay her," said Harry, "but that does not alter the fact that she has done a great deal which money could not buy." Maria gazed at her father with suspicion, which he did not recognize.
It had never occurred to Harry Edgham to marry Aunt Maria.

It had never occurred to him that she might think of the possibility of such a thing.

It was now nearly a year since his wife's death.

He himself began to take more pains with his attire.