And then that Mr.Martin should have read it with any sort of interest! It was more than I counted on, as you know.

Thank you, dearest Mrs.Martin--thank both of you for so much sympathy.
In respect to certain objections, I am quite sure you do me the justice to believe that I do not willingly give cause for offence.

Without going as far as Robert, who holds that I 'couldn't be coarse if I tried,' (only that!) you will grant that I don't habitually dabble in the dirt; it's not the way of my mind or life.

If, therefore, I move certain subjects in this work, it is because my conscience was first moved in me not to ignore them.

What has given most offence in the book, more than the story of Marian--far more!--has been the reference to the condition of women in our cities, which a woman oughtn't to refer to, by any manner of means, says the conventional tradition.