"You're the first man that I've ever known that I felt could understand what I meant, and I do want to know the man's side of things."
"A man hasn't got any side nowadays. He's not allowed one."
Emily looked a little surprised. "You speak bitterly."
"I think I've a right. Men are still observing the rules of the game and suffering bitter consequences."
"What do you mean?"
"Women with homes have gone into the world to earn some extra pocket money until they've knocked the bottom out of all wage systems, and you never can make the wildest among them see that women can't expect men's pay unless they do men's work. A man's work is only half of it in business, the other half is supporting a family. Women want equal pay and to spend the result as they please. The man's wages go usually on bread and the woman's on bonnets, to speak broadly. He goes to his own home at night and has every single bill for four to ten people. She goes to somebody else's house and has only her own needs to face, with perhaps some contribution towards those off somewhere."
"Dear me," said Emily, "I never thought of that."
"No," said Lorenzo, snapping the lid of his color box shut, "women don't think of that. But men do."
"But surely there are loads and loads of women who do support families."
"Yes, and who are dragged down by the injustice of what economists call 'The Law of Supplemented Earnings'!"