I wonder if he knows what he is quoting, and what had happened to _that_
woman!"

"Dewdrops don't linger long in the sun of California. But she was
undeniably the most beautiful creature this or any other sun ever shone
on."

"And he is the sweetest, sanest, cleanest-hearted boy, and the most
innocent of what a woman may go through and still be fair outside!"

"Why, that is why she likes him. It speaks well for her, I think, that she
hankers after that kind of a boy."

"It speaks volumes for what she lacks herself! Don't misunderstand me.
I hope I am not without charity for what is done and never can be
undone,--though charity is hardly the virtue one would hope to need in
welcoming a son's wife. It is her ghastly silence now that condemns her."

Mr. Thorne heaved a sigh, and changed his feet on the gritty tent floor.
He stooped and picked up some small object on which he had stepped, a
collar-stud trodden flat. He rolled it in his fingers musingly.

"She may be getting up her courage to tell him in her own time and way."

"The time has gone by when she could have told him honorably. She should
have stopped the very first word on his lips."

"She couldn't do that, you know, and be human. She couldn't be expected to
spare him at such a cost as that. Mighty few men would be worth it."