I'm talking of some person who in his present situation may have held her own, may really have counted." "That's exactly what I am!" said Miss Gostrey.

But she as quickly made her point.

"I thought you thought--or that they think at Woollett--that that's what mere wretches necessarily do.

Mere wretches necessarily DON'T!" she declared with spirit.

"There must, behind every appearance to the contrary, still be somebody--somebody who's not a mere wretch, since we accept the miracle.