I thought it would open her eyes.

I was such a fool! As if anything could open the eyes of a mother to the faults of her only son." Peter looked at her with such despair and grief in his dark face that her heart almost softened towards him; but she hardened it again immediately.
"Do you mean that you--you've been playing with me all this time, Sarah?
They--everybody told me--that you were only playing--but I've never believed it." "I _meant_ to play with you," said Sarah, turning, if possible, even redder than before; "I meant to teach you a lesson, and throw you over.

And the more I saw of you, the more I didn't repent.

You, who dared to think yourself superior to your mother; and, indeed, to any woman! Kings are enslaved by women, you know," said Miss Sarah, tossing her head, "and statesmen are led by them, though they oughtn't to be.

And--and poets worship them, or how could they write poetry?
There would be nothing to write about.