I'm as fond of Edith as if she was really my sister, and I can't help fretting about it.

It would break my heart to have Edith's life spoiled." This tune was off the key, to Mary's ear.

Sibyl tried to sing with pathos, but she flatted.
And when a lady receives a call from another who suffers under the stress of some feeling which she wishes to conceal, there is not uncommonly developed a phenomenon of duality comparable to the effect obtained by placing two mirrors opposite each other, one clear and the other flawed.

In this case, particularly, Sibyl had an imperfect consciousness of Mary.

The Mary Vertrees that she saw was merely something to be cozened to her own frantic purpose--a Mary Vertrees who was incapable of penetrating that purpose.