Most women are such paltry creatures that they daren't look into their own minds--for fear nature should have put something 'improper' there." She broke off with laughter, and, as Lilian kept silence, fell into thought.
In saying that she thought her Companion a "womanly woman," Lilian told the truth.

Ever quick with sympathy, she felt a sadness in Mrs.Wade's situation, which led her to interpret all her harsher peculiarities as the result of disappointment and loneliness.

Now that the widow had confessed her ill-fortune in marriage, Lilian was assured of having judged rightly, and nursed her sentiment of compassion.

Mrs.Wade was still young; impossible that she should have accepted a fate which forbade her the knowledge of woman's happiness.

But how difficult for such a one to escape from this narrow and misleading way! Her strong, highly-trained intellect could find no satisfaction in the society of every-day people, yet she was withheld by poverty from seeking her natural sphere.