[General] But it might be only a phase

[vil]

Dear teachers,

Would you be kind enough to tell me a whether I am right with my interpretation of the expression in bold in the following sentenced?

Still, better poor Grizzle than Miss Kilman; better distemper and tar and all the rest of it than sitting mewed in a stuffy bedroom with a prayer book! Better anything, she was inclined to say. But it might be only a phase, as Richard said, such as all girls go through.

but it might be only a phase = but it might be connected with age

Thanks for your efforts.

Regards,

V.

 

[euncu]

***neither a teacher nor a native-speaker***

I can think of two possibilities, the first of which is more likely to be true considering "all girls go through", and those possible meanings are as below;

1) All females, inevitably, go through certain phases in their lives and this is one of them.
2) All females, from time to time, may go through such phases in their lives and this is one of them.