The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey: she had lost him. Lassiter's friendship--that was more than
love--it would endure, but soon he, too, would be gone. Little
Pay slept dreamlessly upon the bed, her golden curls streaming
over the pillow. Jane had the child's worship. Would she lose
that, too? And if she did, what then would be left? Conscience
thundered at her that there was left her religion. Conscience
thundered that she should be grateful on her knees for this
baptism of fire; that through misfortune, sacrifice, and
suffering her soul might be fused pure gold. But the old,
spontaneous, rapturous spirit no more exalted her. She wanted to
be a woman--not a martyr. Like the saint of old who mortified his
 Riders of the Purple Sage |