Read "There is Confusion" by Jessie Redmon Fauset online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Joanna was in agony. Her life, hitherto a thing of light and laughter and pleasant work, became a nightmare of regret and morbid introspection. She could not blame herself enough. Nothing that Sylvia could say would make her speak unkindly of Peter.
"No, Sylvia, it wasn't his fault, really, it was all mine. Of course I think he was a little stupid not to see that my very interest in him, my constant faultfinding grew out of my wish to have him perfect. And I wanted him to be perfect because I loved him. But if I had ever dreamed how much I was hurting him, I'd never have said a word to him. I'd rather have had him exactly as he was, faults and all, than to lose him altogether."