It was as though she could not trust herself to speak, and I waited awkwardly on Providence, wishing the others were not so far off.

But suddenly the tension of her mood seemed to give way.

Her smile flashed out, and she turned upon me with a sweet, eager graciousness, quite indescribable.
'"No, we won't throw stones at her! She _is_ great, I know, but that other feeling is so strong in me.

I care for my art; it seems to me grand, magnificent!--but I think I care still more for making people feel it is work a good woman can do, for holding my own in it, and asserting myself against the people who behave as if all actresses had done the things that Madame Desforets has done.

Don't think me narrow and jealous.