Because of the Lockwoods by Dorothy Whipple II

Thea is not sure if she's glad to be home, having a cloud of gossip around her. She is also dismayed to find that her family have become quite friendly with Oliver, during her months of absense. He is friendly with Martin and he has persauded Molly to give up her governessing which she hates and to take a course in cooking, which is her particular talent. Having improved her cooking skills Molly is helped by Oliver to take over a cake shop and she is running it with Edith, Oliver's sister. She loves the work and wants to buy the shop and manage it herself, in due course. Thea can see that Oliver is good hearted and intelligent but she does find him rather vulgar and pushing at times. He has become conscious of his flaws, since getting to know the HUnters and has gone to evening classes to learn a bit about literature and science and to learn how to behave genteelly. Thea remains cool with him, but Oliver persists in trying to win her attention. THen she tells him abruptly that she had to leave France because she had fallen in love with a young Frenchman and it was considered scandalous, there that she should go out with him. Oliver is taken aback but he believes that if he is patient she will come to care for him. Thea feels a bit better when she tells him the truth, rather harshly. Then Mrs Lockwood comes around to tell her off about the incident in France, and Thea loses her temper and tells the lady that she has never been polite or courteous to Mrs Hunter because she was poor, and that she herself has done nothing wrong. Mrs Lockwood in a fury walks out and breaks off the friendship with poor Mrs Hunter and sends back the family's legal papers. Mrs Hunter is very upset - and she begins to turn to Oliver more for advice and help. Thea speaks to her own old headmistress who still hopes that her pupil will go to University and become a teacher but now she says that she has had enough of schools and does not want to explain herself to people, so she will find her own job. However, she is hurt that Martin is cool to her and disapproves of her brief romance in France. It upsets him to think of his little sister growing up and getting into a mess with a boyfriend. When the Lockwood girls come back from school a few months later, Martin hurts Thea still more by becoming friends with the 3 girls. He does not like the twins, but he has always been in love with Clare, and he is willing to sacrifice his pride to go to dances and parties with the 3 Lockwoods, as a tame escort. The Lockwood parents are pleased to see their daughters going out and about on the social scene, but there are less young men of a certain social standing, in the town these days because the sons of mill owners have given up being in business and gone up a notch in the social scale by going into the army or other professions. So it is a relief that the Lockwoods have Martin to take the girls out, as their attitude is that he is too poor and modest to ever think of their daughters as marriage material and he is safe. He is rather ashamed of himself but persists because of Claire. It leads to an increased coolness between him and Thea.