"While Olympia is simply bewildering, changeable as the sky, erratic as a comet. We all understand Olympia."
The young man, who had kept silent till now, joined in the conversation, but his voice was constrained, and a little husky.
"Who is this woman, Olympia?"
The other young men laughed at the question.
"Who is Olympia? Why, the most bewitching, unprincipled, delightful bit of wickedness that has been thrown on the world for years. Don't tell us that you are to learn anything of Olympia at this time."
"I have heard of her, and seen her too, but only as a singer. What I ask is about her life, her principles, her character as a woman."
"And you ask that of us, my dear fellow? What nonsense! Have we not said that she is an actress?"
"Well, what then? An actress may be well-principled, honest, honorable, and modest, too, as any woman living. I asked if this woman, Olympia, the patroness, mother, or what you will, of this new singer, is one of these?"
"Don't ask any of us to endorse or condemn Olympia. We know that she gives the most delicious little suppers in the world, sings like a siren, smiles like an angel, and gets more and more fascinating as she grows older, as fruit ripens with age. No one ever thinks of asking her how old she is, or where she was born. It is enough that her beauty is in its summer, her voice perfect, and that she, who perhaps reigned over our fathers, holds us as her slaves. As for honor, dignity, principle, and all that, my dear fellow, who ever expects such things in a woman like our Olympia?"
"Yet she has had the training of this new singer."