Then I did not guess how cruel men and women could be, how venomous their tongues; now, knowing it, having faced slander and lived it down, I deliberately say that were the choice again before me I would choose as I chose then; I would rather go through it all again than live "in Society" under the burden of an acted lie.
The hardest struggle was against my mother's tears and pleading; to cause her pain was tenfold pain to me.

Against harshness I had been rigid as steel, but it was hard to remain steadfast when my darling mother, whom I loved as I loved nothing else on earth, threw herself on her knees before me, imploring me to yield.

It seemed like a crime to bring such anguish on her; and I felt as a murderer as the snowy head was pressed against my knees.

And yet--to live a lie?
Not even for her was that shame possible; in that worst crisis of blinding agony my will clung fast to Truth.

And it is true now as it ever was that he who loves father or mother better than Truth is not worthy of her, and the flint-strewn path of honesty is the way to Light and Peace.
Then there were the children, the two little ones who worshipped me, who was to them mother, nurse, and playfellow.