Sand.... The sail of the receding yacht gleamed now against the Sand, and
its flashing broke her heart; for it was the flashing of freedom. She
thought of the yachtsman; he was very courteous and deferential; a mild
creature; he had behaved to her as to a woman.... Oh! To be the petted and
capricious wife of such a man, to nod commands, to enslave with a smile, to
want a thing and instantly to have it, to be consulted and to decide, to
spend with large gestures, to be charitable, to be adored by those whom you
had saved from disaster, to increase happiness wherever you went ... and to
be free!....

The little dog jumped up at her because he was tired of being ignored, and
she caught him and kissed him again and again passionately, and he wriggled
with ecstasy and licked her ears with all the love in him. And in kissing
him she kissed grave and affectionate husbands, she kissed the lovely
scenery of the Sound, and she kissed the magnificent ideal of emancipation.
But the dog had soon had enough of her arms; he broke free, sprang,
alighted, and rolled over, and arose sniffing, with earth on his black
muzzle....

He looked up at her inquiringly.... Strange, short-frocked blue figure
looking down at him! She had a bulging forehead; her brown eyes were
tunnelled underneath it. But what living eyes, what ardent eyes, that
blazed up and sank like a fire! What delicate and exact mirrors of the
secret traffic between her soul and the soul of the world! She had full
cheeks, and a large mouth ripe red, inviting and provocative. In the midst,
an absurd small unprominent nose that meant nothing! Her complexion was
divine, surpassing all similes. To caress that smooth downy cheek (if you
looked close you could see the infinitesimal down against the light like an
aura on the edge of the silhouette), even to let the gaze dwell on it, what
an enchantment!... She considered herself piquant and comely, and she was