Marjorie had about reached the conclusion that boys were on the whole more fascinated by sex withheld than by sex granted; and since this is nearly the sum of wisdom on the subject of young love, she managed for the time being to keep out of trouble. (Chapter 4, p. 45)

The rehearsal period after classes was like a birthday party that came every day. In a word, she was stage-struck. (Chapter 6, p. 57)

But Marjorie had little use for any version of the faith. She regarded it as a body of superstitious foolishness perpetuated, and to some degree invented, by her mother for her harassment. (Chapter 9, p.84)

All during the winter, and into the spring—while she dreamed of him, and wrote letters she never intended to mail and tore them up, and scribbled Mrs. Noel Airman on loose-leaf sheets which she instantly shredded into a wastebasket, and planned...