Grace Stepney seams to be characterized as an antagonist to Lily Bart. She is painted in a light with Mrs. Peniston of a more helpful and caring relative. Although Grace’s ideas and actions align more with Mrs. Peniston and she is more reliable, Lily is still considered more enjoyable to have around and grace only comes when Lily is absent for large periods of time. Another character which reenters the story is Mrs. Haffen. She had appeared twice before cleaning stairs which Lily was walking up and had to navigate around. She represents a form of life which is repulsive and rejected by Lily but is still a possibility in her future if she fails in her goal of marrying a rich man which she has recently done. Her disapproval of Mrs. Haffen’s class is represented by the narrators reasoning for her delayed in saying, “like all her class she had to go a long way back to make a beginning, and it was only after a pause that she replied” (Wharton 83). This idea also shows a gap in between the rich and poor. What Mrs. Haffen offers Lily seams to me to be very devious, and may allude to the possibility of a disreputable future for Miss Bart. This future however is in the control of Miss Bart and will rely on what she decides to do with the letters. The letters may be a constant temptation if they are kept.
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