“I think, reader, that she was feeling the same thing that Despereaux had felt when he was faced with his father begging him for forgiveness. She was suddenly aware of how fragile her heart was, how much darkness was inside it, fighting, always, with the light. She did not like the rat. She would never like the rat. But she knew now what she must do to save her own heart.” ~ Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux