Wasn't it true that the moment two women were together in the presence of their lovers their first idea was to do one another out of them? It was a l… - Émile Zola

The passion for defiling things was inborn in her. It was not enough for her to destroy them, she had to soil them too.

In the midst of these fine gentlemen with their great names and their ancient traditions of respectability, the two women sat face to face, exchanging tender glances, triumphant and supreme in the tranquil abuse of their sex, and their open contempt for the male. And the gentlemen applauded them.

It was a house of shadows, where the sunshine was filtered down to a guttering night-light strength between the laths of the window-shutters. (89)