On the whole she knew they had managed very well for young people who lived
so much in the world, and she had no intention of economizing further. They
had no children. Her husband was young and energetic and healthy. Her own
little fortune was secure. She purposed to enjoy life as best she could;
and as she could not have done this quite selfishly and been happy, she
included among her yearly expenditures a certain admirable charity presided
over by her equally admirable sister, and even visited it occasionally with
her friends when a serious mood descended abruptly upon them....She was now
on the threshold of her second beautiful youth, and found herself and life
far more interesting than when, a silly girl of eighteen, she had believed
that all life and romance must be crowded into that callow period. She had
no idea of sacrificing this new era vibrating with unknown possibilities
(it was on the cards that she might resurrect Gathbroke from his ivory
tomb; lie would do admirably for her present needs, and when she found it
difficult to visualize him after so long a period, she could pay Gora a
sisterly visit) to a penurious attempt to increase her capital. At the same
time she had no intention of diminishing it. To quote Tom Abbott (when
Maria was elsewhere): She might be a fool, or even a----fool, but she was
not a----fool.
V
She dressed herself in a black velvet suit made by her New York tailors.
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