hint of defiance in her voice, "I'm not going to stand in awe of Eric any longer."
"In awe—of Eric?" Madame Claire laughed. "My dear Louise, that you've certainly never done."
"Well, it's what I was always expected to do. I've thought a good deal about what you said the last time I was here. You were partly right. I suppose I have sulked. Well, I'm not going to sulk any more. Eric isn't a demi-god. I know now there's no earthly reason why I should look up to him, and admire him. He's just like any other man."
"But I could have told you that any time these last eight years!" cried Madame Claire, more puzzled than amused. "And besides, you yourself seem to have been well acquainted with his failings. I have sometimes thought you saw nothing else."
"That's because I was annoyed by his perfections."
"Perfections! My dear, I could swear Eric has never been a prig!"
"Well, he never seemed to make mistakes like other people. And he always seemed to expect things of me that I wasn't capable of. It got on my nerves."
