Alice Duer Miller

Name: Manslaughter — Chapter 14
Author: Alice Duer Miller

Manslaughter — Chapter 14 (1921)

Summary

“Manslaughter — Chapter 14”, published in 1921, is a work by Alice Duer Miller. It explores elements such as O'Bannon, Lydia and Albee.

Quotes from Manslaughter — Chapter 14 (Alice Duer Miller)

Alice Duer Miller, Manslaughter — Chapter 14 (1921)

“ There was real cruelty for you, she thought—to ruin a woman's life and then to come and enjoy the spectacle. What a story for him to go home with, to remember and smile over, to tell, perhaps, to his mother or Eleanor!
"The poor girl!" he might say with tones of false pity in his voice. "At the mere sight of me she fainted dead away and lay at my feet in her prison dress, her hands coarsened by hard work——"
This last proof of her utter defenselessness infuriated her. She was justified in her revenge, whatever it might be. The thought of it ran through all her dreams like a secret romance. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Alice Duer Miller, Manslaughter — Chapter 14 (1921)

“ I see her every week. She's like an animal in a trap. Perhaps you never saw one—in a trap, I mean. Lydia had a gray wolfhound once, and in the woods it strayed away and got caught in a mink trap. It was almost dead when we found it, but so patient and hopeless. She's getting to be like that—each week a little more patient than the week before—she who was never patient. Oh, Mr. O'Bannon, I feel sometimes as if I couldn't bear it—the way they've ground it out of her in a few months! She seems like an old woman in a lovely young woman's body. They haven't spoiled that—at least they haven't yet. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Alice Duer Miller, Manslaughter — Chapter 14 (1921)

“ She did not feel unfriendly to O'Bannon. On the contrary she admired him. She could, as she said, see his side of it. She prided herself on seeing both sides of every question. She greeted him cordially as soon as she was sure it was he. He turned and walked with her. They had the reservoir to themselves.
Miss Bennett thought it more tactful not to refer to Lydia. She began talking about the beauty of the city. Country people always spoke as if all natural beauty were excluded from towns, but for her part——
O'Bannon suddenly interrupted her. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Alice Duer Miller, Manslaughter — Chapter 14 (1921)

“ Long, long winter nights in prison are excellent periods for thinking out a revenge. She saw it would not be easy to revenge herself on O'Bannon. If it were Albee it would be simple enough—she would make him publicly ridiculous. To wound that sensitive egotism would be to slay the inner man. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Alice Duer Miller, Manslaughter — Chapter 14 (1921)

“ The matron came in, running at the sound of her fall. O'Bannon picked her up limp as a rag doll in his arms and carried her back to her cell. Under most circumstances he would have noticed that the cell was bright and large, but now he only compared it, with a pang at his heart, to that large, luxurious, deserted bedroom of Lydia's in which he had once interviewed Evans. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Alice Duer Miller, Manslaughter — Chapter 14 (1921)

“ CHAPTER XIV As Lydia began to emerge from her depression she clung to Evans, who had first made her see that she could not think anything human alien to herself. The disciplined little Englishwoman, sincere and without self-pity, seemed the purveyor of wisdom. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Alice Duer Miller, Manslaughter — Chapter 14 (1921)

“ She had been in prison about three months when one morning word came to the kitchen that she was wanted in the reception room. This meant a visitor. It was not Miss Bennett's day. It must be a specially privileged visitor. Her guest was Albee.
Prisoners whose conduct was good enough to keep them in the first grade were allowed to see visitors once a week. Miss Bennett came regularly, and Eleanor had come more than once. Lydia was very eager to see these two, but was not eager to see anyone else. There was always a terrible moment of shyness with newcomers—an awkward ugly moment. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Alice Duer Miller, Manslaughter — Chapter 14 (1921)

“ Then her wrists and knees seemed to melt, her heart turned over within her; everything grew yellow, green and black, and she fainted—falling gently full length at the feet of the district attorney.
When she came to she was in her own cell. She turned her head slowly to right and left.
"Where is that man?" she said. She was told he had gone. ”

Alice Duer Miller

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Quotes from Manslaughter — Chapter 14 (Alice Duer Miller)

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