Cathy Marie Buchanan

“No social being is less protected than the young Parisian girl—by laws, regulations, and social customs.”

“Maman drops to her knees, grasps the hem of Monsieur LeBlanc’s greatcoat. “You cannot turn us out. My daughters, all three good girls, you would put them on the street?”

“Monsieur”

“She was lost to me, a sister who did not love her sister anymore. Such a stupid thing, striking that match.”

“Willfulness, such as yours, is exactly what a girl needs to raise herself up to do something useful with her life.”

“It is about being born downtrodden and staying that way. Hard work makes no difference, he is saying. My lot, the lots of those around me, were cast the moment we were born into the gutter to parents who never managed to step outside the gutter themselves.”

“Tom said, "You should go. You could use a friend." It was not anything I had not thought myself. Still, hearing it aloud made me feel pitiable, and I had no wish to be, and so I...set off for a luncheon I did not much want to attend." p 233”

“In those clouds I have seen aberrations-flecks of shimmering silver, orbs of color a shade more intense than their surroundings. I have seen them more than once, and I haves decided they are prayers, mine and everyone else's, too.”