Mr。Twycottknewperfectlywellthathehadcommittedsocialsuicidebythisstep，despiteSophy’sspotlesscharacter，andhehadtakenhismeasuresaccordingly。AnexchangeoflivingshadbeenarrangedwithanacquaintancewhowasincumbentofachurchinthesouthofLondon，andassoonaspossiblethecoupleremovedthither，abandoningtheirprettycountryhome，withtreesandshrubsandglebe，foranarrow，dustyhouseinalong，straightstreet，andtheirfinepealofbellsforthewretchedestone-tonguedclangourthatevertorturedmortalears。Itwasallonheraccount。Theywere，however，awayfromeveryonewhohadknownherformerposition；
andalsounderlessobservationfromwithoutthantheywouldhavehadtoputupwithinanycountryparish。
Sophythewomanwasascharmingapartnerasamancouldpossess，thoughSophytheladyhadherdeficiencies。Sheshowedanaturalaptitudeforlittledomesticrefinements，sofarasrelatedtothingsandmanners；butinwhatiscalledcultureshewaslessintuitive。
Shehadnowbeenmarriedmorethanfourteenyears，andherhusbandhadtakenmuchtroublewithhereducation；butshestillheldconfusedideasontheuseof’was’and’were，’whichdidnotbegetarespectforheramongthefewacquaintancesshemade。Hergreatgriefinthisrelationwasthatheronlychild，onwhoseeducationnoexpensehadbeenandwouldbespared，wasnowoldenoughtoperceivethesedeficienciesinhismother，andnotonlytoseethembuttofeelirritatedattheirexistence。
Thusshelivedoninthecity，andwastedhoursinbraidingherbeautifulhair，tillheronceapplecheekswanedtopinkoftheveryfaintest。Herfoothadneverregaineditsnaturalstrengthaftertheaccident，andshewasmostlyobligedtoavoidwalkingaltogether。