In her present mood, too, she wanted no one to have forethought for her; she desired no provision; for her, in the discomfiture of heart, there was consolation in the feeling that when she should find herself alone in the world, she would have been ill-treated by her friends all round her.

There was a charm in the prospect of her desolation of which she did not wish to be robbed by the assurance of some seventy pounds a year, to be given to her by Captain Frederic Aylmer.

To be robbed of one's grievance is the last and foulest wrong,--a wrong under which the most enduring temper will at last yield and become soured,--by which the strongest back will be broken.

"Well, my dear," continued Mrs.Winterfield, when Clara made no response to this appeal for praise.
"It is so hard for me to say anything about it, aunt.

What can I say but that I don't want to be a burden to any one ?" "That is a position which very few women can attain,--that is, very few single women." "I think it would be well if all single women were strangled by the time they are thirty," said Clara with a fierce energy which absolutely frightened her aunt.
"Clara! how can you say anything so wicked,--so abominably wicked!" "Anything would be better than being twitted in this way.