A woman of true feeling may be a fool.

In short, a devote may have a sublime soul and yet be unable to recognize the tones of a noble soul beside her.

The caprices produced by physical infirmities are equally to be met with in the mental and moral regions.
This good creature, who grieved at making her yearly preserves for no one but her uncle and herself, was becoming almost ridiculous.

Those who felt a sympathy for her on account of her good qualities, and others on account of her defects, now made fun of her abortive marriages.
More than one conversation was based on what would become of so fine a property, together with the old maid's savings and her uncle's inheritance.

For some time past she had been suspected of being au fond, in spite of appearances, an "original." In the provinces it was not permissible to be original: being original means having ideas that are not understood by others; the provinces demand equality of mind as well as equality of manners and customs.
The marriage of Mademoiselle Cormon seemed, after 1804, a thing so problematical that the saying "married like Mademoiselle Cormon" became proverbial in Alencon as applied to ridiculous failures.