"But you," he replied, "have a daughter, a young little child, who was laid In your lap to be pure; so I leave you: the angels would make me afraid." IX. "Oh, that," she said, "is no reason. The angels keep out of the way; And Dora, the child, observes nothing, although you should please me and stay." X. At which he rose up in his anger,--"Why, now, you no longer are fair! Why, now, you no longer are fatal, but ugly and hateful, I swear." XI. At which she laughed out in her scorn: "These men! Oh, these men overnice, Who are shocked if a colour not virtuous is frankly put on by a vice." XII. Her eyes blazed upon him--"And _you_! You bring us your vices so near That we smell them! You think in our presence a thought 't would defame us to hear! XIII. "What reason had you, and what right,--I appeal to your soul from my life,-- To find me too fair as a woman? Why, sir, I am pure, and a wife. XIV. "Is the day-star too fair up above you? It burns you not. Dare you imply I brushed you more close than the star does, when Walter had set me as high? XV. "If a man finds a woman too fair, he means simply adapted too much To uses unlawful and fatal. The praise!--shall I thank you for such? XVI. "Too fair?--not unless you misuse us! and surely if, once in a while, You attain to it, straightway you call us no longer too fair, but too vile. XVII. "A moment,--I pray your attention!--I have a poor word in my head I must utter, though womanly custom would set it down better unsaid. XVIII. "You grew, sir, pale to impertinence, once when I showed you a ring. You kissed my fan when I dropped it. No matter!--I've broken the thing. XIX. "You did me the honour, perhaps, to be moved at my side now and then In the senses--a vice, I have heard, which is common to beasts and some men. XX. "Love's a virtue for heroes!--as white as the snow on high hills, And immortal as every great soul is that struggles, endures, and fulfils. XXI. "I love my Walter profoundly,--you, Maude, though you faltered a week, For the sake of ... what was it--an eyebrow? or, less still, a mole on a cheek? XXII. "And since, when all's said, you're too noble to stoop to the frivolous cant About crimes irresistible, virtues that swindle, betray and supplant, XXIII. "I determined to prove to yourself that, whate'er you might dream or avow By illusion, you wanted precisely no more of me than you have now. XXIV. "There! Look me full in the face!--in the face. Understand, if you can, That the eyes of such women as I am are clean as the palm of a man. XXV.