There Was A Dull Pang Of Regret

There Would Be No One There To Live For Her During Those Coming Years; She Would Live For Herself. There Would Be No Powerful Will Bending Hers In That Blind Persistance With Which Men And Women Believe They Have A Right To Impose A Private Will Upon A Fellow-creature. A Kind Intention Or A Cruel Intention Made The Act Seem No Less A Crime As She Looked Upon It In That Brief Moment Of Illumination.

Why?" Asked Her Companion. "why Do You Love Him When You Ought Not To?" Edna, With A Motion Or Two, Dragged Herself On Her Knees Before Mademoiselle Reisz, Who Took The Glowing Face Between Her Two Hands. "why? Because His Hair Is Brown And Grows Away From His Temples; Because He Opens And Shuts His Eyes, And His Nose Is A Little Out Of Drawing; Because He Has Two Lips And A Square Chin, And A Little Finger Which He Can't Straighten From Having Played Baseball Too Energetically In His Youth. Because - " "because You Do, In Short," Laughed Mademoiselle.

I Dance With People I Despise; Amuse Myself With Men Whose Only Talent Lies In Their Feet, Gain The Disapprobation Of People I Honor And Respect; Return Home At Day Break With My Brain In A State Which Was Never Intended For It; And Arise In The Middle Of The Next Day Feeling Infinitely More, In Spirit And Flesh Like A Liliputian, Than A Woman With Body And Soul. Entry (when She Was Eighteen) In Her Commonplace Book, 1868-1869.

I Trust It Will Not Be Giving Away Professional Secrets To Say That Many Readers Would Be Surprised, Perhaps Shocked, At The Questions Which Some Newspaper Editors Will Put To A Defenseless Woman Under The Guise Of Flattery.

There Are Some People Who Leave Impressions Not So Lasting As The Imprint Of An Oar Upon The Water.