Edna, a married woman has been having an affair with an artist named Robert and discusses the situation with her good friend Mademoiselle Reisz.
Why? said Edna “do you suppose a woman knows why she loves? Does she select? Does she say to herself: «Here´s a distinguished statesman with presidential possibilities; I shall proceed to fall in love with him.» O, «I shall set my heart upon this musician, whose fame is on every tongue?»
“Edna” said Mademoiselle Reisz “Are you in love with Robert?”
“Yes,” said Edna. It was the first time she had admitted it, and a glow overspread her face, blotching it with red spots.
“Why?,asked Mademoiselle Reisz “Why do you love him when you ought not to?”
“Why? Because his hair is brown and grows away from his temples; because he opens and shuts his eyes, and his nose is a little out of drawing; because he has two lips and a square chin, and a little finger which he can’t straighten from having played baseball too energetically in his youth. Because—”
“Because in short, you do” laughed Mademoiselle
The Awakening (1899), Kate Chopin





