"And I often and often wished I'd been born a London shop-girl, so that I should never long for things that were then out of my reach. So there was really something in my birth after all."
"I should jolly well think there was. It's no end of an asset. But to go back to what we were talking about."
"About nature's designs to make us all fight for our own?"
"Yes. Look at yourself. You're now ever so much harder than you were."
"Are you surprised?" she asked vehemently, as she all but betrayed her hatred.
"It's really a good thing from your point of view. It's made you more fitted to take your own part in the struggle."
"Then, those who injured me were the strong preying on the weak?" she asked.
"It's the unalterable law of life. It's a disagreeable one, but it's true. It's the only way the predominance of the species is assured."
"I think I'll have a cigarette," said Mavis.
"One of mine?"