Read "The Silent Woman" by Eliza Margaret Jane Humphreys online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Though Molly made no response to that last flattering observation it was sweet as honey to the lips of incipient vanity. Not any unbelieving vanity, but one born of dawning intelligence, the open discussion of her various "points," the assurance that met her in the reflection of her mirror, or the envious looks of less favoured companions.
Of beauty, as the one charm par excellence of her sex, the one prerogative that defies fate, fortune and circumstance, she had had no consciousness whatever. But lately she had learnt what beauty meant, and what it might win. The love and admiration of men; a place in the world; gifts of fortune. All good things in their way she was assured, and all in the power of her sex to win and hold, when well-favoured by nature.