An insolent laugh was her first reply. ‘How little you men know of each other, and how less than little you know of us! You sneer at the people who are moved by sudden impulse, but you forget it is the squall upsets the boat.’ ‘I believe I can follow what you mean. You would imply that my cousin’s breach with _me_ might have impelled her to listen to Atlee?’ ‘Not so much that as, by establishing himself as her confidant, he got the key of her heart, and let himself in as he pleased.’ ‘I suspect he found little to interest him there.’ ‘The insufferable insolence of that speech! Can you men never be brought to see that we are not all alike to each of you; that our natures have their separate watchwords, and that the soul which would vibrate with tenderness to this, is to that a dead and senseless thing, with no trace or touch of feeling about it?’ ‘I only believe this in part.’ ‘Believe it wholly, then, or own that you know nothing of love--no more than do those countless thousands who go through life and never taste its real ecstasy, nor its real sorrow; who accept convenience, or caprice, or flattered vanity as its counterfeit, and live out the delusion in lives of discontent. You have done wrong to break with your cousin. It is clear to me you suited each other.’ ‘This is sarcasm.’ ‘If it is, I am sorry for it. I meant it for sincerity. In _your_ career, ambition is everything. The woman that could aid you on your road would be the real helpmate. She who would simply cross your path by her sympathies, or her affections, would be a mere embarrassment. Take the very case before us. Would not Lady Maude point out to you how, by the capture of this rebel, you might so aid your friends as to establish a claim for recompense? Would she not impress you with the necessity of showing how your activity redounded to the credit of your party? She would neither interpose with ill-timed appeals to your pity or a misplaced sympathy. _She_ would help the politician, while another might hamper the man.’