“I don’t know, I’m sure. You say I’m angry, so I must be. You should be able to discover the cause when you’ve noticed the effect.” “I can’t. But when I stumble or stammer I notice it always puts you out.” “Then don’t do it.” “I’ll try not. But if I sometimes said the things I thought, they’d sound so foolish that you’d laugh at them.” “They could not possibly be more foolish than the things you say.” “Are all the women of your acquaintance very sensible and clever?” “More or less so. Of course, they have the advantage of education and upbringing; but still that does not do away with the fact that they possess many natural gifts.” “It must be very nice to possess natural gifts.” “Yes. Few women are born without them.” “Am I one of the few?” “So far as I can judge you are. With talent and cleverness, you should be able to escape from prison.” “But I’m staying here on principle. I never thought of trying to get away.” “That shows your inherent stupidity, and a surprising lack of spirit. Cannot you find a door of escape?” Rosalie shook her head and sighed. “No,” she answered. “I thought of the chimney once, but that was absurd.” “Can you think of no other door?” “No. It’s no good my trying to get out where every door is either locked or guarded.” “You have not wit enough to think of one, you mean?” “Perhaps so,” she answered, and looked at him with eyes full of a great and wistful longing to be told. “Well, I’ll tell you. There is the door of my heart. Any other woman would have thought of it at once.” She shook her head. “I’ve had no practice that way. I shouldn’t know how to go about to find it.” “No? As women go, you are intensely stupid. You possess all the disadvantages of a school-girl, without any of the attractions of youth.” “I’m not very old,” said Rosalie. “I’m only twenty-three.” “There you are again. You can keep nothing to yourself.” “I only told you what my age was.” “Well, I’ve none of the curiosity of a census paper, and women who tell their ages are a pest.” “But why?” “Because it is either a boast or a lie. Both are objectionable. Keep your age to yourself. No one wants to know it, and if they do, let them find out or guess.” “Is that what the clever women do?” “I don’t know. If you become a clever woman at second hand, you will become an abomination.” “What must I do then?” “Remain stupid.” “Then I’ll never get away.” “Oh, no; as soon as I pointed the way I blocked it. Had you discovered it yourself, it might have been unguarded.” “I don’t believe you would have let me through, even if I had found it out.” “Of course not. One never believes that which touches one’s vanity.” Rosalie sighed. What a contrary mood had suddenly seized him! She got up, with little of life or spirit in her movements. “Then if you find me so very dull I won’t come again. Three years seem a long time, but I have no doubt God will help me to live through them.” He laughed.