"Poor Laura, indeed! When one sees such shipwreck it makes a woman doubt whether she ought to marry at all."
"And yet he was a good man. She always said so."
"Men are so seldom really good. They are so little sympathetic. What man thinks of changing himself so as to suit his wife? And yet men expect that women shall put on altogether new characters when they are married, and girls think that they can do so. Look at this Mr. Maule, who is really over head and ears in love with Adelaide Palliser. She is full of hope and energy. He has none. And yet he has the effrontery to suppose that she will adapt herself to his way of living if he marries her."
"Then they are to be married?"
"I suppose it will come to that. It always does if the man is in earnest. Girls will accept men simply because they think it ill-natured to return the compliment of an offer with a hearty 'No.'"
"I suppose she likes him?"
"Of course she does. A girl almost always likes a man who is in love with her,—unless indeed she positively dislikes him. But why should she like him? He is good-looking, is a gentleman, and not a fool. Is that enough to make such a girl as Adelaide Palliser think a man divine?"
"Is nobody to be accepted who is not credited with divinity?"
"The man should be a demigod, at least in respect to some part of his character. I can find nothing even demi-divine about Mr. Maule."
"That's because you are not in love with him, Lady Chiltern."