There's not a tiny bit of feeling of sterility about her." "No," said Miriam.
"And with my father, at first, I'm sure she had the real thing.

She knows; she has been there.

You can feel it about her, and about him, and about hundreds of people you meet every day; and, once it has happened to you, you can go on with anything and ripen." "What happened, exactly ?" asked Miriam.
"It's so hard to say, but the something big and intense that changes you when you really come together with somebody else.

It almost seems to fertilise your soul and make it that you can go on and mature." "And you think your mother had it with your father ?" "Yes; and at the bottom she feels grateful to him for giving it her, even now, though they are miles apart." "And you think Clara never had it ?" "I'm sure." Miriam pondered this.

She saw what he was seeking--a sort of baptism of fire in passion, it seemed to her.