Her back arched, and in the moonglow she looked like a pagan offering, mysterious, delectable, irresistible.

The greatest challenge to an accurate current self-image (that is, seeing yourself as others see you and in a way consistent with your other internal states, beliefs, emotions, and so forth) is the boiling frog syndrome. Several factors contribute to this syndrome. First, people around you may not let you see a change. They may not give you feedback or information about how they see it. Also, they may be victims of the boiling frog syndrome themselves, adjusting their perception daily.

‘This proceeding,’ interposed the president, ‘is by no means in accordance with the terms of the mulct or sentence, which is in its nature Median, and not to be altered or recalled.’

A young woman, if she fall into bad hands, may be teased, and kept at a distance from those she wants to be with; but one cannot comprehend a young man’s being under such restraint, as not to be able to spend a week with his father, if he likes it.