Sublime

Her skin was not a surface; it was an indefinite glory of the palest rose and orange that chose to mould itself to those tense limbs.

“It was always a cruelty to promise them equality,” he said, “since by their nature they can never achieve it. We have already begun the merciful task of lowering their expectations.”

vigil

Character

here, plainly, Updike is more interested in his personal filing-system than in his normal courteousness towards the reader.