"I hope I haven't too much the droop of the misunderstood." "No; but you sometimes say things that I think people who have always been happy wouldn't have found out." "I haven't always been happy," said Madame Merle, smiling still, but with a mock gravity, as if she were telling a child a secret.

"Such a wonderful thing!" But Isabel rose to the irony.

"A great many people give me the impression of never having for a moment felt anything." "It's very true; there are many more iron pots certainly than porcelain.
But you may depend on it that every one bears some mark; even the hardest iron pots have a little bruise, a little hole somewhere.

I flatter myself that I'm rather stout, but if I must tell you the truth I've been shockingly chipped and cracked.

I do very well for service yet, because I've been cleverly mended; and I try to remain in the cupboard--the quiet, dusky cupboard where there's an odour of stale spices--as much as I can.