It strikes me now just how much rank is deeply interwoven with Betteredge's relationship with women. He's rambling here three lengthy paragraphs about Miss Rachel, his lady's daughter, describing anything but the color of her back teeth, while designating about two dry sentences to describing his previous wife, Selina, and same for his own daughter!

It can also be seen in the way he unfailingly refers to Rachel as Miss Rachel, whereas to his female servants (even Rosanna, who's 25!) as "girl."