As to dependency or humiliation, Caroline did not feel it in her intercourse with Shirley, and why should Mrs. Pryor? The heiress was rich--very rich--compared with her new friend: one possessed a clear thousand a year, the other not a penny; and yet there was a safe sense of equality experienced in her society, never known in that of the ordinary Briarfield and Whinbury gentry.
The reason was, Shirley's head ran on other things than money and position. She was glad to be independent as to property; by fits she was even elated at the notion of being lady of the manor, and having tenants and an estate. She was especially tickled with an agreeable complacency when reminded of "all that property" down in the Hollow, "comprising an excellent cloth-mill, dyehouse, warehouse, together with the messuage, gardens, and outbuildings, termed Hollow's Cottage;" but her exultation being quite undisguised was singularly inoffensive; and, for her serious thoughts, they tended elsewhere. To admire the great, reverence the good, and be joyous with the genial, was very much the bent of Shirley's soul: she mused, therefore, on the means of following this bent far oftener than she pondered on her social superiority.

As to dependency or inferiority - Caroline did not feel it in talking to Shirley, so why would Mrs. Pryor? Shirley was rich: she possessed a thousand a year, and Caroline not a penny; and yet there was a safe sense of equality when with her, never known with the ordinary Briarfield gentry.
The reason was that Shirley's head ran on other things than money and position. She was glad to be independent; at times she was even elated at the notion of being lady of the manor, and having tenants and an estate. She was especially tickled when reminded of "all that property" down in the Hollow - the mills, gardens and cottage; but her serious thoughts tended elsewhere. To admire the great, reverence the good, and be joyous with the genial, was very much Shirley's way, rather than thinking of her social superiority.
