She saw, in the blinding light of an illuminative moment, Warren's attitude towards a girl placed by him among his own 'sort of people'; she saw him brushing aside, lest they should touch and smirch her, the Ginas, the Morellos, the Lulis, who might have crossed her path; she saw his considerate respect, his equal comradeship.
"The Furnace"
Rose Macaulay
The filth of the streets could not smirch her-outwardly.
"Superwomen"
Albert Payson Terhune
Alone, alone, alone, She who had longed for love by stealth As a gold-mad miser longs for wealth Or a poet longs for fame, Her seared numb body had just an ache For a pitiful pitiless last mistake And the smirch upon her name.
"A Legend of Old Persia and Other Poems"
A. B. S. Tennyson