Reader, I {would have} married him...

      Perhaps this is why I prefer reading to any other activity. When one reads, one is forced to look down at the words, and the imperfections of the face become less noticeable due to the angle of one's head. More so, the act of reading is a silent rebellion. To read in the presence of company is a most convenient excuse for not partaking in conversation. ...  if you are sitting behind your sisters and occupied with a book, it is as if to say to the guest, 'I would rather spend time with the litigious husbands, gamblers, and spendthrifts of this novel than with you, dear sir, even if you had no interest in wooing me in the first place.'

from Mary B, by Katherine J. Chen

{Painting found here.}