"I fear I must hold myself to one tearful saltwater confession per week," she says, with cool irony at her own expense in every word. "But I regret that I..."

"I would not claim your company under false colors," she says finally. "There are those in Canaan House who will not share a table or a room with me, and I welcome their scorn. While I doubt you would care about the heresy that troubles them, the principle stands--I do not wish an esteem I have earned falsely, whatever the advantages."