"But indeed you do not know how happy my visits make old Mr. Blandford; you know, sir, he is very poor; so Lady Mary would not go with me if I asked her; and he is very lame, so if Aura went with me, she is such a mas-cap, perhaps she might laugh at him; besides, when I sometimes ask Mrs. Matthews to let her walk with me, she has something for her to do, and cannot spare her."
Mr. Blandford is a beneficiary of Lucy's charitable engagements and he does not take her actions for granted. Lucy is sensitive to Mr. Blandford's condition and devotes herself to lightening his life through her kindness. Lucy's explanation suggests that she would not Mr. Blandford to be hurt or humiliated due to his lowly condition; hence, she offers him her company so he can feel loved.
"Captain Blakeney was the intimate friend of her (Lucy) grandfather, he had loved her mother as his own child, and dying a bachelor when Lucy was ten years old, he left her the whole of the property he had acquired during the war which had given to the United States of America…so that at the time of his death, his property amounted to more than twenty thousand pounds sterling. This he bequeathed to his little favourite on condition that she took the name and bore the arms of Blakeney.”
Captain Blakeney's condition regarding Lucy's name implies that he regards her as her family although they are not blood relatives. The captain considers Lucy to be an agent who will ensure that his family name is not forgotten. The continuance of the name Blakeney is worth all the riches which he bequeaths Lucy. Family names endure when they are passed through generations. Had Lucy rejected the name, she would lose all the privileges that would come with being a Blakeney.
“Mr. Matthews was, what every minister of the Gospel should be, the profound scholar, the finished gentleman, and the sincere, devout Christian. Plain and unaffected in his address to his parishioners, on the Sabbath-day, or any day apart for devotional exercise, he at all other times exemplified in his own conduct the piety and pure morality he had from the pulpit forcibly recommended to others.”
Mr. Matthews sets an impressive example for his family and the orphans he has been tasked to bring up. His sincerity and nobleness make him a perfect role model and father figure for the orphans. Moreover, being pious and modest renders him an ideal minister who influences the ministers positively. He surely deserves to be a guardian because his persona is above reproach.
