"Suppose we put aside allegory," he said, "and discuss just how you think a man—myself, for instance—could set the world afire—make it wiser and better, I mean."
The embers were dying down, and she looked into them a little longer before replying. Then, presently:
"Oh, if I were only a man!" she repeated. "There is so much—so many things—for a man to do. Discovery, science, feats of engineering, the professions, the arts, philanthropy—oh, everything! And for us, so little!"
A look of amusement grew about the young man's mouth. He had seen much more of the world than she; was much older in a manner not reckoned by years.
"We do not monopolize it all, you know. Quite a few women are engaged in the professions and philanthropy; many in the arts."
"The arts, yes, but I am without talent. I play because I have been taught, and because I have practiced—oh, so hard! But God never intended that the world should hear me. I love painting and literature, and all those things. But I cannot create them. I can only look on. I have thought of the professions—I have thought a great deal about medicine and the law. But I am afraid those would not do, either. I cannot understand law papers, even the very simple ones Father has tried to explain to me. And I am not careful enough with medicines—I almost poisoned poor Mamma last week with something that looked like her headache drops and turned out to be a kind of preparation for bruises. Besides, somehow I never can quite see myself as a lawyer in court, or going about as a doctor. Lawyers always have to go to court, don't they? I am afraid I should be so confused, and maybe be arrested. They arrest lawyers don't they, sometimes?"
"They should," admitted the young man, "more often than they do. I don't believe you ought to take the risk, at any rate. I somehow can't think of you either as a lawyer or a doctor. Those things don't seem to fit you."
"That's just it. Nothing fits me. Oh, I am not even as much as I seem to be, yet can be nothing else!" she burst out rather incoherently, then somewhat hastily added: "There is philanthropy, of course. I could do good, I suppose, and Father would furnish the money. But I could never undertake things. I should just have to follow, and contribute. Some one would always have to lead. Some one who could go among people and comprehend their needs, and know how to go to work to supply them. I should do the wrong thing and make trouble——"
"And maybe get arrested——"
They laughed together. They were little more than children, after all.