"I am not a bit ashamed of that, though I am ashamed of having in some sort contributed to do her an injury. Of course I love her." "Rather,--as I said before." "Of course you intended that I should." "I intended that you should amuse yourself. As long as you are good to me, I shall be good to you." "My dear Adelaide, nobody can be so grateful as I am. But in this matter the thing hasn't gone quite as you intended. You say that she is meaningless." "Vapid, flabby, childish, and innocent as a baby." "Innocent I am sure she is. Vapid and flabby she certainly is not. She is full of fun, and is quite as witty as a woman should be." "You always liked fools, Jack." "Then how did I come to be so very fond of you." In answer to this she merely made a grimace at him. "I hadn't known her three days," continued he, "before I began to feel how impossible it would be to say anything to her that ought not to be said." "That is just like the world all over," said Mrs. Houghton. "When a man really falls in love with a woman he always makes her such a goddess that he doesn't dare to speak to her. The effect is that women are obliged to put up with men who ain't in love with them,--either that, or vouchsafe to tell their own little story,--when, lo, they are goddesses no longer." "I dare say it's very ridiculous," said Jack, in a mooning despondent way. "I dare say I'm not the man I ought to be after the advantages I have had in such friends as you and others." "If you try to be severe to me, I'll quarrel with you." "Not severe at all. I'm quite in earnest. A man, and a woman too, have to choose which kind of role shall be played. There is innocence and purity, combined with going to church and seeing that the children's faces are washed. The game is rather slow, but it lasts a long time, and leads to great capacity for digesting your dinner in old age. You and I haven't gone in for that." "Do you mean to say that I am not innocent?" "Then there is the Devil with all his works,--which I own are, for the most part, pleasant works to me. I have always had a liking for the Devil." "Jack!" "Of all the saints going he is certainly the most popular. It is pleasant to ignore the Commandments and enjoy the full liberty of a debauched conscience. But there are attendant evils. It costs money and wears out the constitution." "I should have thought that you had never felt the latter evil." "The money goes first, no doubt. This, however, must surely be clear. A man should make up his mind and not shilly-shally between the two." "I should have thought you had made up your mind very absolutely." "I thought so, too, Adelaide, till I knew Lady George Germain. I'll tell you what I feel about her now. If I could have any hope that he would die I would put myself into some reformatory to fit myself to be her second husband." "Good heavens!"