“Forgive me, Leo, for the unmerciful way in which I laughed at you, when I saw the ‘mess’ your driver had brought you into. I was not laughing at you personally; but I am always so tickled when I see the so-called ‘lords of creation’ making themselves ridiculous, that I could not restrain my laughter.”
“Oh, I bear you no malice, Francis, on that account; but how is it you are so embittered against my sex?”
“Major Frank,” she answered, “has but too often had occasion to study the character of men.”
“That is to say, that after over-confidence in the brilliant uniforms which have proved deceptive, Major Frank has decided to revenge herself on civilians as well as military men.”
“You are quite mistaken. Major Frank is acquainted with all the ranks from corporal to general; and in civil life she has had an opportunity of studying men wearing court dress, decorations, and orders. And this is the conclusion she has come to: that discipline is the best means of bringing out whatever good there is in a man, whilst at the same time it keeps the evil within bounds.”
“What you say is not very encouraging for your future husband, Francis.”
“My future husband!” she cried, with a bitter laugh. “Now I see you are a perfect stranger in these parts, Leopold. But you need not trouble yourself about me; I shall never marry.”
“Who knows? Circumstances may induce——”
“Me to take a husband,” she interrupted, growing indignant. “Listen, Leo: you know nothing about me, and what you think you know will have been told you by slanderous tongues. Therefore I will not take offence at what you have said; but I request you not to think so meanly of me as to believe I would sacrifice my name and my person on the altar of Mammon, and make a mariage de raison—the most unreasonable and immoral union that can exist.”
“Many a proud lady who once thought as you do, Francis,” I answered, “has been induced by the counsel of her friends to change her state of ‘single blessedness,’ which is such a mark for calumny and lies——”