Booth Tarkington

“ And they haven’t done any harm: she made Wilbur happy, and she was a true wife to him as long as he lived. It wasn’t a crime for her to care for Eugene all the time; she certainly never told him she did—and she gave me every chance in the world! She left us alone together every time she could—even since Wilbur died—but what was the use? And here I go, not doing myself a bit of good by it, and just”—Fanny wrung her hands again—“just ruining them!”
“I suppose you mean I’m doing that,” George said bitterly.
“Yes, I do!” she sobbed, and drooped upon the stairway railing, exhausted. ”

“ And do you dream I thought you’d do what you’ve done here this afternoon to Eugene? Oh, I knew that, too! I was looking out of the front bedroom window, and I saw him drive up, and then go away again, and I knew you’d been to the door. Of course he went to George Amberson about it, and that’s why George is here. He’s got to tell Isabel the whole thing now, and you wanted to go in there interfering—God knows what! You stay here and let her brother tell her; he’s got some consideration for her!”
“I suppose you think I haven’t!” George said, challenging her, and at that Fanny laughed witheringly. ”

“ Figures in blue and amber garments posed gracefully in panels, conceived by some craftsman of the Eighties to represent Love and Purity and Beauty, and these figures, leaded to unalterable attitudes, were little more motionless than the two human beings upon whom fell the mottled faint light of the window. ”

“ A mildness had come upon Fanny, and she had controlled her weeping. She shook her head gently. “No, I’d let her alone if I were you. I don’t think she’s very well, George.”
“She! I never saw a healthier person in my life.”
“No. She doesn’t let anybody know, but she goes to the doctor regularly.”
“Women are always going to doctors regularly.”
“No. He told her to.”
George was not impressed. “It’s nothing at all ”