have been worse to live—­I couldn’t have ruined his life.  And even if things had been different, I hadn’t come to love him, in that way—­it’s queer, because he’s such a wonderful person.  I’d like to live for the child, if only I had the strength, the will left in me—­but that’s gone.  And maybe I could save her from—­what I’ve been through.”

Augusta Maturin took Janet’s hand in hers.

“Janet,” she said, “I’ve been a lonely woman, as you know, with nothing to look forward to.  I’ve always wanted a child since my little Edith went.  I wanted you, my dear, I want your child, your daughter—­as I want nothing else in the world.  I will take her, I will try to bring her up in the light, and Brooks Insall will help me....”

PG editor’s bookmarks: 

   Anger and revolt against a life so precarious and sordid
   But when you get to a point where private affairs become a public menace
   Exorbitant price for joys otherwise more reasonably to be obtained
   Foreigners.  I never could see why the government lets ’em all come
   Hitherto he had held rigidly to that relativity
   Janet resented that pity
   Love is nothing but attraction between the sexes
   Mercifully, however, she had little leisure to reflect
   Perhaps she feared to break the charm of that memory
   She resented being prayed for
   Struggled against her woman’s desire to give
   Tested the limits of Janet’s ingenuity and powers of resistance
   The seventh commandment was only relative
   There had been something sorrowful in that kiss
   Too much reason in the world, too little impulse and feeling