SIR LYOLF. Michael--Mr. Docwray! Glad to see you. You're talking business, or rather religion, which is your business. Am I in the way? MICH. No, we're not talking business. We're discussing a woman. SIR LYOLF. Aren't women nine-tenths of a parson's business? (_MICHAEL looks a little shocked._) Excuse me, my dear boy. (_To MARK._) I quite believe in all Michael is doing. I accept all his new doctrines, I'm prepared to go all lengths with him, on condition that I indulge the latent old Adam in me with an occasional mild joke at his expense. But (_with great feeling_) he knows how proud I am of him, and how thankful I am to God for having given me a son who is shaping religious thought throughout England to-day, and who (_with a change to sly humour_) will never be a bishop--not even an archdeacon--I don't believe he'll be so much as a rural dean. What about this woman you were discussing? I'll bet--(_coughs himself up_)--I should say, I'll wager--(_MICHAEL looks shocked, SIR LYOLF shrugs his shoulders at MARK, proceeds in a firm voice_)--without staking anything, I will wager I know who the lady is--Mrs. Lesden? Am I right? MICH. Yes. SIR LYOLF. Well, I haven't heard your opinion of her. But I'll give you mine--without prejudice--(_with emphasis_) very queer lot. MARK. Michael had just said she was a curious creature. MICH. I don't understand her. SIR LYOLF. When you don't understand a woman, depend upon it there's something not quite right about her. MICH. She seems to have immense possibilities of good and evil. SIR LYOLF. Nonsense. There are all sorts of men, but, believe me, there are only two sorts of women--good and bad. MICH. You can't divide women into two classes like that. SIR LYOLF. But I do--sheep and goats. Sheep on the right hand--goats on the left. MICH. (_shaking his head_). Women's characters have greater subtlety than you suppose. SIR LYOLF. Subtlety is the big cant word of our age. Depend upon it, there's nothing in subtlety. It either means hair-splitting or it means downright evil. The devil was the first subtle character we meet with in history. MICH. And he has still something to do with the shaping of character in this world. SIR LYOLF. I don't doubt it. And I think he has very likely something to do with the shaping of Mrs. Lesden's. MICH. Hasn't he something to do with the shaping of all our characters? Don't all our souls swing continually between heaven and hell? SIR LYOLF. Well, the woman whose soul swings continually between heaven and hell is not the woman whom I would choose to sit at my fireside or take the head of my table. Though I don't say I wouldn't ask her to dinner occasionally. That reminds me, how long are you staying, Mr. Docwray? MARK. Only till Friday. SIR LYOLF. You'll dine with me to-morrow evening? MARK. Delighted. SIR LYOLF. You too, Michael. I'll ask the Standerwicks, and (_suddenly_) suppose I ask this lady? MICH. Mrs. Lesden? I would rather you didn't.