You always began the substitute hopefully and generally ended up by being thoroughly bored with it and marvelling how on earth anybody could possibly have found it interesting! Nan wondered if she would get bored with her substituted volume.
She had rushed recklessly into her engagement, regarding marriage with Roger much as though it were a stout set of palings with "No Right of Way" written across them in large letters.

Outside, the waves of emotion might surge in vain, while within, she and Roger would settle down to the humdrum placidity of married life.

But the dull, ceaseless ache at her heart made her sometimes question whether anything in the world could keep at bay the insistent claim of love.
She tried to reassure herself.

At least there would always remain her music and the passionate delight of creative work.

It was true she had written nothing recently.