Lucky’s Reviews > The House of Mirth > Status Update

She surveyed him critically. 'Your coat's a little shabby— but who cares? It doesn't keep people from asking you to dine. If I were shabby no one would have me: a woman is asked out as much for her clothes as for herself. The clothes are the background, the frame, if you like: they don't make success, but they are a part of it. Who wants a dingy woman? We are expected to be pretty and well-dressed till we drop.'

She drew a sympathetic breath. 'But do you mind enough-to marry to get out of it?'
Selden broke into a laugh. 'God forbid!' he declared.
She rose with a sigh, tossing her cigarette into the grate. ‘Ah, there's the difference—a girl must, a man may if he chooses.’

'But do you mind enough to marry to get out of it?'
Selden broke into a laugh. 'God forbid!' he declared.

'I wish I knew—I wish I could make you out. Of course I know there are men who don't like me—one can tell that at a glance. And there are others who are afraid of me: they think I want to marry them.' She smiled up at him frankly. But I don't think you dislike me—and you can't possibly think I want to marry you.'

Everything about her was at once vigorous and exquisite, at once strong and fine. He had a confused sense that she must have cost a great deal to make, that a great many dull and ugly people must, in some mysterious way, have been sacrificed to produce her. He was aware that the qualities distinguishing her from the herd of her sex were chiefly external.

There was nothing new about Lily Bart, yet he could never see her without a faint movement of interest: it was characteristic of her that she always roused speculation, that her simplest acts seemed the result of far-reaching intentions.