I was surprised at how frank this one was with respect to desire and sex — Charity Royall is (like most Wharton characters) hemmed in by constraints of her gender and social class, but she nonetheless exerts agency where she can. The edition I borrowed had an introduction by Marilyn French that pointed out how setting this story in working-class and poor environments allowed Wharton to have Charity push harder at the expectations of her. If Charity were an upper-class lady it would have been unthinkable to think, much less act, as she does. Like every Wharton story I found it to be fairly bleak, but I also appreciated how Charity has found a measure of peace at the end. Her available choices aren’t great, but she owns them.