Shirley

by Charlotte Brontë

‘Cut it, woman,’ said her guest; and the ‘woman’ cut it accordingly. Had she followed her inclinations, she would have cut the parson also;

These expressions were ice to the daughter’s heart; they suggested the conclusion that it was perhaps better never to know her parent than to know her and not like her.

authors’ heroines are almost as good as authoresses’ heroes.’

‘Not at all. Women read men more truly than men read women.

‘“You conceived an idea obnoxious to a woman’s feelings,” was her answer. “You have announced it in a fashion revolting to a woman’s soul. You insinuate that all the frank kindness I have shown you has been a complicated, a bold, and an immodest manoeuvre to ensnare a husband. You imply that at last you come here out of pity to offer me your hand, because I have courted you. Let me say this: Your sight is jaundiced; you have seen wrong. Your mind is warped; you have judged wrong. Your tongue betrays you; you now speak wrong. I never loved you.