"You see, Robert, how fully I’ve come round to your opinion! If I’m to risk my salvation for anything, it must be for something bigger than the love chase." After a pause, she added, with a faintly ironical smile: "For something bigger, too, than a mere husband, don’t you think?" "But you won’t risk your salvation with me, Janet," said Robert, coming close to her side. "You’re in a position to make your own terms, absolutely—for have you I must! Stick to your practical terms but not to your abstract ideas. And be generous! Remember, a man who’s obliged to take care of a fortune, needs a wife to take care of him." "Indeed! But why expect one able-bodied human being to ’take care of’ another human being, equally able-bodied? Or why ask a woman to become what men gallantly call a ministering angel, but what ought bluntly to be called a domestic drudge?" "I admit it’s a very stupid arrangement. Yet at present it’s the only tolerable arrangement I know of. Unquestionably, it’s haphazard, wasteful, anarchic! And no doubt a later generation of men and women, fired with a collective purpose, will regulate domestic affairs much better. But what am I to do? Wasn’t I born and bred on the understanding that some ministering angel would drudge my home to rights? Well, I’m extremely uncomfortable without one!" "Selfish wretch. Do you know what Mrs. Jerome says?" "No." "She says that women have been men’s cat’s-paws long enough. It’s time for them to abdicate the job. If we are to make any headway, the unmarried girls will have to be strong enough and self-respecting enough to refuse the empty honors offered as bribes for their servitude. They must put a high price on their freedom!" "Good! I offer you a million dollars, cash down, for yours. It’s half my fortune." Janet turned away, chilled to the soul. "You’re mocking me," she said. "Not a bit of it," he retorted, following her. "I don’t propose to live with an economic inferior. Such a course would wreck us at the start. That there can be no genuine comradeship between people of unequal means is a truth which every philosopher from Plato to William James has pointed out." "Did they point it out, in the midst of a proposal?" He held both her hands in a firm grip. "Darling, don’t pretend to misunderstand me. Do you want me to sink to my knees in this public place and overwhelm you with ardors and protestations? It’s easy enough, and I’m quite mad enough now. Mad with the enchantment of your touch, that turns my heart to fire; with the music of your voice, in which I hear all Elfland calling; with your haunting mystery and lilac fragrance, at which my senses reel and swim! I’m ninety-nine parts drenched with ecstasy! If you reproach me because one thin gleam of sanity still remains at the helm I shall be—" "Arithmetical!" At the word, he seized her and kissed her and—Time being Love’s fool—they were imparadised in each other’s arms.