My lover--my husband--must be a man who can hold his own with other men, in whatever relation of life the struggle may be.

The man into whose hands I entrust the happiness of my life must have his qualities so clear and distinct that there never will be any question about them.

He must not need continual explanation and defense, for then outraged pride would strangle love with a ruthless hand.

No, I must never have reason to believe that my choice is inferior to other men in anything." But notwithstanding this, she smoothed out the crumpled letter tenderly upon her knee, and read it over again, in the vain hope of finding that the words had less harshness than she had at first found in them.
"No," she said after a weary study of the lines, "it's surely worse than mother states it.

She is so kind and gentle that she never fails to mitigate the harshness of anything that she hears about others, and she has told me this as mildly as the case will admit.