“Well, if she doesn't like pelicans she must be very disagreeable.”

“Nature is all very well in her place, but she must not be allowed to make things untidy.”

“She suffers as a miser. She must be miserly with her pleasures, as well. I wonder if sometimes she doesn't wish she were free of this monotonous sorrow, of these mutterings which start as soon as she stops singing, if she doesn't wish to suffer once and for all, to drown herself in despair. In any case, it would be impossible for her: she is bound.”

“Ruby Gillis thinks of nothing but young men, and the older she gets the worse she is. Young men are all very well in their place, but it doesn't do to drag them into everything, does it?”

“But Aunt Margaret doesn't like boys," objected Elnora."Well, she likes me, and I used to be a boy. ...”

“Your mother sets you up blind dates? With guys like that?" The corners of his mouth twitched. "She doesn't like you very much, does she?”