“I have thrown over Mr. Holland because he has written a book to make people have contempt for the Bible,” said Phyllis. “Then all I can say is that you were never in love with the man,” cried Ella. “You may say that if you please.” “I do say it. If a girl really loves a man, she will marry him even though he should write a book against Darwin. If a girl really loves a man she will stand by him all the closer when he is undergoing a course of honorable persecution, with his portrait in every paper that one picks up.” “I dare say that is true enough,” assented Phyllis. “Perhaps I never did really love Mr. Holland. Perhaps I only fancied I cared for him because I saw that so many other girls--took to wearing chocolates and grays and kept their sleeves down just when sleeves were highest.” “Of course it was only natural that you should wish to--well, colloquially, to wipe the eyes of the other girls. How many girls, I should like to know, begin to think of a man as a possible husband until they perceive that the thoughts of other girls are turned in his direction?” “At any rate, whatever I may have done long ago--” “Three months ago.” “Three months ago. Whatever I may have done then, I know that I don’t love him now.” “Don’t be too sure, my dear Phyllis. If there is one thing more than another about which a woman should never be positive, it is whether or not she loves a particular man. What mistakes they make! No, I’ll never believe that you turned him adrift simply because he wrote something disparagingly about Solomon, or was it David? And I did so want you and him for my next day; I meant it to be such a _coup_, to have returned to town only a week and yet to have the most outrageously unorthodox parson at my house. Ah, that would indeed have been a _coup_! Never mind, I can at least have the beautiful girl who, though devoted to the unorthodox parson, threw him over on account of his unorthodoxy.” “Yes, you are certain of me--that is, if you think I should--if it wouldn’t seem a little----” “What nonsense, Phyllis! Where have you been living for the past twenty-three years that you should get such a funny notion into your head? Do you think that girls nowadays absent themselves from felicity awhile when they find it necessary to become--well, disengaged--yes, or divorced, for that matter?” “I really can’t recollect any case of--” “Of course you can’t. They don’t exist. The proper thing for a women to do when she gets a divorce is to take a box at a theatre and give the audience a chance of recognizing her from her portraits that have already appeared in the illustrated papers. The block printing has done that too. There’s not a theatre manager in London who wouldn’t give his best box to a woman who has come straight from the divorce court. The managers recognize the fact that she is in the same line as themselves. But for you, my dear Phyllis--oh, you will never do him the injustice to keep your throwing over of him a secret.”