Mildred, giving the last touches to her costume before the glass, glanced merrily at Moldini by way of it. "If he did touch it," said she, "how long do you think he would last with me?" Moldini paused half-way in his nod of approval, was stricken with silence and sadness. It would have been natural and proper for a man thus to put sex beneath the career. It was necessary for anyone who developed the strong character that compels success and holds it. But-- The Italian could not get away from tradition; woman was made for the pleasure of one man, not for herself and the world. "You don't like that, maestro?" said she, still observing him in the glass. "No man would," said he, with returning cheerfulness. "It hurts man's vanity. And no woman would, either; you rebuke their laziness and their dependence!" She laughed and rushed away to fresh triumphs. End of Project Gutenberg's The Price She Paid, by David Graham Phillips