Olive Higgins Prouty

“ You can go back to New York and tell him that I refuse, with thanks, his chivalrous offer. Gracious. I don't call it exactly chivalrous for a man to walk off and leave his wife for seven years, and then, when he gets good and ready, give her the privilege of suing him for a divorce, so he can go and marry a rich young widow, and kick the high spots with her."
"You will, then, as I said before, force Mr. Dallas to bring suit against you." ”

“ A cat no more vigorously sets herself to work over the deplorable condition of her kitten after a visit to the coal-bin than did Stella over Laurel after her visit to New York and the Maine woods, "where they lived like animals," according to her way of thinking. ”

“ Stella retorted. "I tell you I don't want a divorce."
Really it was annoying. Mr. Morley Smith couldn't make the least indentation on her.
"It looks to me, Mrs. Dallas, as if you will be obliged to have a divorce whether you want it or not."
"I don't know why. I don't pretend to know anything about the law, but I've got some common sense, and I never heard of a woman's being forced to get a divorce from her husband because he happens to want to go and get married again. Stephen does want to get married again, doesn't he?" ”

“ What if the world was treating her like a bunch of cruel boys a dog—kicking her from all sides, all at once? She mustn't put her tail between her legs and yelp and hug the ground. She must stand up and bristle her back, and snarl, and show her teeth, if necessary. ”

“ Dallas," Mr. Morley Smith began from his high place of authority in front of the flat-topped desk, glancing across to Stella in her low place at the side of the desk (three feet and an armchair make all the difference in the world) , "that you found it convenient to meet me here to-day. It is so much more satisfactory to talk a matter of this kind over quietly together." ”

“ Mrs. Morrison asked a girl my age, whose mother she knew, to come and stay with me one night. And she came, and when she went she asked me to come and stay all night with her!" (No girl had ever asked Laurel to stay all night with her before.) "But I couldn't because I had to go back to New York the next day. I hated to go back to New York to Miss Simpson. Mother, next to you I think Mrs. Morrison is the loveliest lady I ever saw." Laurel's voice actually trembled.
Stella removed the orange-stick from her mouth and laid it down on the table beside the buffer. ”

“ Upstairs in the house there are the loveliest bedrooms and little tiled bathrooms hidden away like jewels on the inside of a watch. And all the bedroom doors stand open all day. Nobody ever thinks of locking the bedroom door. And in the pantry off the dining-room there's a big tin box with rows of thin cookies on each shelf. You can take one whenever you're hungry. Sometimes you can go into the kitchen and make candy! Oh, mother," Laurel broke off, "would it cost too awfully much for us to have a house all of our own somewhere—not a great big expensive one, like Mrs. ”

“ It has a beautiful lawn and garden all around it, and on the first floor out of all the rooms there are long windows, like doors, which are always kept open, so you can walk out onto the grass any time, just as easily as walking out from underneath a tree. ”

“ That's convenient," murmured Stella.
"Oh, no, it isn't. It isn't a bit convenient. Mr. Morrison left a whole lot of money and horses and houses and things, and Mrs. Morrison has to look out for them all alone. She says she wouldn't know what to do without father to help her and advise her."
"Oh, I see, I see." Stella was still polishing, still keeping her voice light and inconsequential with the help of the steadying orange-stick. "A whole lot of money and horses and houses, has she? ”