...my Friend, There Are Some Things That

...but With The Hours I Sometimes Kept At The Coffeehouse I Had To Have Learned To Take Naps During The Day Or Die, And I Had Learned To Take Naps. Up Until Five Months Ago "something Or Other Or Die" Had Always Seemed Like A Plain Choice In Favor Of The Something Or Other.

Beauty: "you Called Me Beautiful Last Night." Beast: "you Do Not Believe Me Then?" Beauty: "well - No. Any Number Of Mirrors Have Told Me Otherwise." Beast: "you Will Find No Mirrors Here, For I Cannot Bear Them: Nor Any Quiet Water In Ponds. And Since I Am The Only One Who Sees You, Why Are You Not Then Beautiful?

All You Did Was Sit There, He Said. Why Are You So Tired? I Sat Very Diligently, She Said.

Everything Was An Adventure, At Night, When You Were Where You Shouldn't Be, Even If It Was Somwhere You Could Go Perfectly Well In Daylight, And It Was Then Only Ordinary.

At Least I Was True. My Intellectual Abilities Gave Me A Release, And An Excuse. I Shunned Company Because I Preferred Books; And The Dreams I Confided To My Father Were Of Becoming A Scholar In Good Earnest, And Going To University. It Was Unheard-of Several Shocked Governesses Were Only Too Quick To Tell Me, When I Spoke A Little Too Boldly -- But My Father Nodded And Smiled And Said, 'we'll See.' Since I Believed My Father Could Do Anything -- Except Of Course Make Me Pretty -- I Worked And Studied With Passionate Dedication, Lived In Hope, And Avoided Society And Mirrors.