Wharton, Edith — The Age of Innocence [1847]

Her color burned deeper, but she held his gaze. “No; I wasn’t sure then—but I told her I was. And you see I was right!” she exclaimed, her blue eyes wet with victory. — Wharton, Edith, The Age of Innocence, 1847

Note

The confession, delivered as triumph, doubles as an admission of the lie May told Ellen to secure her departure—and then the lie retroactively became true. The ‘blue eyes wet with victory’ makes May’s innocence and her ruthlessness inseparable.