How could she possibly have tenderness for a man who had tired of her in four months, who had become so lost to common decency that he could let her see him revoltingly drunk?
And she had held her head so high, she had so despised Jane for her weakness and folly! At the moment she knew that she was helpless, but deep down within her she felt that this helplessness would not last--that the wings of her soul were still strong, still free, still untouched by the shame her body had suffered.
With a single effort she could break the net of passion, and escape into the wonderful world which surrounded her.

Like Jane, she had been a fool, but, unlike Jane, she would not stay a fool always.
"You seem so hard, Gabriella," said Mrs.Fowler.

"Is it because you are young?
Young people never make allowances." The taste of bitterness rose to Gabriella's lips.
"I suppose I am hard," she answered, "and I am going to stay so.

There is safety in hardness." Remembering Jane, remembering the hereditary weakness of the Carrs, who had all married badly, she told herself that in hardness lay her solitary refuge from despair.

After all, it was better to be hard than to break.
"You can't judge George quite as you would other men," began George's mother, and she was aware after a minute that the maternal instinct had in this instance led her to defeat.
"I am not judging other men," replied George's wife coldly; "I am judging George." Against men as men she had never even thought of cherishing a grievance.