"That story of Dora is a precious human document," was the poet's ponderous pronouncement. "It is unpleasant, painful, but--what is the lesson? The lesson is that infinite trouble grows out of our rotten squeamishness about sex facts. This girl craved a reasonable amount of pleasure after her work, and she got it. She refused to spend her evenings alone in her room reading a book. She wanted to dance, to enjoy the society of men--their intimate society. That brings us to the oldest and most resistless force in the world, a blessed force, a God-given force upon which all life depends--you know what I mean. And how do we deal with this most formidable of forces? Are we grateful for it? Do we acknowledge its irresistible supremacy? No! We deal with it by pretending that it doesn't exist. We say to Friend Dora that, being unmarried, she has nothing whatever to do with sex attraction, except to forget it. Does she forget it? She does not. Do the men allow her to forget it? They do not. And one fine day Friend Dora has a baby and everybody says horrible, disgraceful! Rubbish! I maintain that the state should provide homes and proper care for the children we call illegitimate! What a word! I say _all_ children are legitimate, all mothers should be honored, yes, and financially protected. A woman who gives a child to the nation, regardless of who the father is, renders a distinguished service. She is a public benefactor." "Hear, hear!" approved several, but the little grey-haired woman objected that this meant free love, whereupon Kendall was off again on his hobby. "Love _is_ free, it always has been and always will be free. If you chain love down under smug rules you only kill it or distort it. I am not arguing against marriage, but against hypocrisy. We may as well recognize that sex desire is so strong a force in the world--that--" To all of this Penelope had listened with ill-concealed aversion, now she could no longer restrain her impatience. "Ridiculous!" she interrupted. "You exasperate me with your talk about the compelling claims of oversexed individuals. Let them learn to behave themselves and control themselves." "Mrs. Wells is absolutely right," agreed Captain Herrick quietly, his eyes challenging Brown. "If certain men insist on behaving like orang-outangs in the jungle, then society should treat them as orang-outangs." This incisive statement somewhat jarred the poet's self-sufficiency and he subsided for the moment, but jealousy is a cunning adversary and the rival awaited his opportunity for counter-attack. As the discussion proceeded Kendall noticed that one of the loose pages from Penelope's diary had fluttered to the floor and, recovering this, he glanced at it carelessly, then smiled as he plucked at his yellow beard.