Mansfield shows the cruelty of the society in the way the Kelvey girls, Lil and Else, are treated. They are the daughters of a poor washerwoman, and their father, it is rumored, is in jail. But because there is only one school in the area, the richer children are forced to rub elbows with these poorer girls. One would think compassion for the girls' plight would encourage the parents to urge their daughters to be kind to the Kelvey girls, but the opposite is true: the richer children are taught not to speak to these girls, who are utterly shunned. The teacher is unkind to them also.

A further cruelty comes when Kezia's mother refuses her request to allow the Kelvey girls to look at their new, marvelous dollhouse.

Innocence is shown in the way the Kelvey girls accept the abuse they receive without protest. Their innocence is emphasized, too, in the way they appreciate the dollhouse when Kezia, also from a place of innocence, shows it to them despite being forbidden to. The two Kelveys are able to forget how they were chased away as they remember the doll house's beautiful lamp:

Presently our Else nudged up close to her sister. But now she had forgotten the cross lady. She put out a finger and stroked her sister’s quill; she smiled her rare smile.

“I seen the little lamp,” she said, softly.

They are innocent enough to still take pleasure in a beautiful dollhouse, despite the fact that they will probably never be able to live in such a lovely place.