Though she was unconscious of the fact as she sat there, suffering yet unbending, in the Florentine chair, she represented the logical result of the conservative principle in nature, of the spirit that forgets nothing and learns nothing, of the instinct of the type to reproduce itself, without variation or development, until the pattern is worn too thin to endure.

That Stephen had inherited this passive force, Corinna knew, but she knew also, that it was threatened by his incurable romanticism, by that inarticulate longing for heroic adventures.
Suddenly, as if moved by a steel spring, Mrs.Culpeper rose.

"I know you have a great deal of influence over Stephen," she said, "and I hoped that, instead of encouraging him in his folly, you would sympathize with me." "I do sympathize with you, Cousin Harriet--only I have learned that it is sometimes very difficult to decide what is folly and what is wisdom in a man's life." "There can scarcely be a doubt, I think, about this.

Surely you cannot imagine that there would be happiness for my son in a marriage with the daughter of Gideon Vetch ?" There was a dreamy sweetness in Corinna's eyes.

"I can't answer that, Cousin Harriet, because I don't know.