Explore "The Money-Spider" by William Le Queux on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Thyra's nature was a complex one. She was the embodiment of youth and health. She was essentially an outdoor girl. She was very good to look upon, and every man who saw her wished to see her oftener.
In her soul she possessed that beautiful sense of reserve and personal isolation which is innate in the best type of woman, an isolation which she was not only prepared to surrender lavishly-when the time came-but to surrender once and for all. She had the gold to give, but she would not fritter away her treasure in the small change of passing flirtations. A woman's consciousness of isolation is her only protection. No man dared to look into the big grey eyes of Thyra and think for an instant of familiarity. The respect that women of her character earn of men is their great reward. Man is a savage barbarian, and has no "bloom" to knock off, but his homage is unbounded to the beautiful woman who has many admirers, but who, without effort, stands apart as something almost sacred. That homage is given to the woman who keeps herself isolated and alone in the hidden chambers of her soul until she meets the one man who holds for her "the key of darkness and of morn."