Anne Douglas Sedgwick

“ Lady Mary, too, was straight; she, too, was magnanimous; and, her eyes on his, she was liking him, liking him even while, not yielding an inch, she answered: “Exactly. One's sons can marry their daughters. The difference couldn't be put more clearly.” And she went on, reminding him more and more of madame Vervier, “Some things fit in and some things don't. Women who have kept their place, fit; women who have lost it, don't. It's very harsh; it's very hypocritical, you will say, Giles; but it is the only way in which a civilized society can protect itself. ”

“ Jerry is my only child. I don't want madame Vervier in my family.”
“You could count on her, too, you know,” said Giles. “She'd do everything to make it easy, for Alix's sake. You see, already she gives her up to us.”
“Ah—but only because of what she hopes you can do for her!” Lady Mary exclaimed, and it was now, again, with the note of impatience. “No; the only person I count upon is Alix herself. I don't see Alix entering a family that doesn't want her. She will draw back when she feels that we can't come forward. ”

“ It's impossible to judge each case on its own merits; so rules are made and the people who transgress them pay the penalty. It isn't really that they are put out; they put themselves out. One pretends about them as long as they allow one to go on pretending. And when it comes to the sons and daughters;—young people don't realize how horrid, how crippling, simple awkwardness can be. How awkward, for instance, to have a mother-in-law you couldn't possibly, ever, invite to the house; how awkward to have babies to whom you've given a demi-mondaine for a grandmother. It becomes too difficult. ”

“ He had to face at breakfast the dismay of Ruth and Rosemary.
“Poor Alix! She's bowled out completely.—Says she doesn't want any breakfast; but I'm going to take her up a tray,” said Rosemary. “No, not kidneys, Jack; if you're ill in bed you don't want kidneys;—a boiled egg's the thing, and toast, and tea. She looks rotten; perfectly rotten. She's awfully fond of Toppie, you see.”
“I suppose there's no good whatever in my going over and seeing what I can say to Toppie,” Ruth ventured to her brother when breakfast was over. ”

“ And Jerry, when he's given a little time, will come to feel that it's all too difficult. After all, they're only children. Little by little he will forget her.”
“And will you?” asked Giles.
Lady Mary, with sweetest, softest emphasis, had pressed Mrs. Bradley's hand in farewell and now moved beside him to the door. She was gracefully occupied in swathing and enfolding; she dropped her veil; she drew her furs together; she avoided meeting again the mirror of his eyes; and she said: “At my age one has learned to give up things. I must give up my dear little Alix.” ”

“ Giles, meanwhile, in his study, sat and wondered what he should do next. Until he had seen Alix again he did not know. How could he go to Toppie? What was there to say to Toppie? He had answered all her questions on the Autumn afternoon in the birch-woods. He had answered all her questions about Owen, and he had answered all her questions about himself. She had seen him on that afternoon place himself on the side of madame Vervier. “She is the product of her mother,” he had said of Alix. “Do you find fault with it?” He had showed himself as understanding madame Vervier; as exculpating her. ”

“ What you really mean”—and Giles heard that his voice became rather bitter as he went on—“is that the daughter of the demi-mondaine must stay in the demi-monde. I wouldn't blame you if you weren't so fond of Alix for herself. I wouldn't blame you if it were a moral objection; but it isn't. Those friends of yours are only in because they've escaped being divorced. Your objection to Alix is really, when you come to look at it, that her mother is unfortunate.—Isn't that so?”
Yes, Lady Mary reminded him, vividly now, of madame Vervier. ”

“ He is indignant with me and furious with Marigold. He says he won't give up Alix if her mother is a Messalina. I'm afraid he's coming here to see her.”
“Aren't you rather proud of him?” Giles inquired.
“No, my dear Giles, I am not proud of him!” Lady Mary now gave herself the relief of impatience, and Jerry was to bear the weight of her discomposure. “He isn't like Alix. He doesn't see other people's point of view. He is thinking only of himself. ”

“ Poor little shop-girls and housemaids had lovers, though usually known less romantically as the fathers of illegitimate babies; she had spent much time and strength in dealing with such sad cases and in pleading on committees that the man was most at fault. ”