Phyllis Bottome

“ Emily thought it a woman's duty to look as well as she could, and she did it thoroughly, as she did everything she thought was right. Human nature was her particular hobby; but it was noticeable that she generally preferred unhappy people, for whom much could be done, to happy people, who like to be left alone. The unhappy people who prefer to be left alone Emily had never had the misfortune to meet, or if she had, she had mercifully overlooked them. ”

“ Geoffrey bowed his head. He was very much touched and concerned. He was touched because he thought it was beautiful for Emily to feel in such a way toward the unfortunate, and he was concerned because he knew that getting mixed up with the unfortunate is very rarely safe. It is not even safe for the unfortunate. He would have seemed a brute if he said this, but he was n't sure that Emily understood that unfortunate circumstances do not always make unfortunate people, and that a certain type of person will make any circumstance, however redemptive, strikingly unfortunate. ”

“ I might as well have read Shelley."
"Darling!" said Emily, with a warmth that involved a close embrace; but when this had finished, Emily did not go on with the discussion about marriage.
"I shall love making them believe in you," she said. "It's too stupid of them not to. They 're dear, wonderful people, but they 're not intelligent; they 're simply figures in the landscape. One can't imagine Amberley without them, but still less can one imagine Sir Thomas without Amberley. I suppose Amberley goes to Tom?"
"Mercifully," said Geoffrey. "I should hate to have a place. When will you marry me?" ”