He carefully stirred up the embers of his lost love, but they refused to burst into a blaze. There was only a comfortable glow that warmed and did him good without putting him into a fever, and he was reluctantly obliged to confess that the boyish passion was slowly subsiding into a more tranquil sentiment, very tender, a little sad and resentful still, but that was sure to pass away in time, leaving a brotherly affection which would last unbroken to the end.
-- Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (full quote here, it was kind of long: https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/36/little-women/448/part-2-chapter-41-learning-to-forget/)