Women think chastity is a virtue primarily insisted upon and enforced by men. They mistake. 'T is a virtue primarily insisted upon and enforced by women: For
When that divine, unique thing Love comes to a woman, if she be not chaste, it is she who deplores the fact. The man may easily enough be deceived; her own heart a woman can never deceive. Besides,
With what righteous indignation women themselves visit unchastity!
* * *
Between the sexes, resentment is the worst of defensive weapons: in the hands of a man it is like a cow-hide shield opposed to Mauser bullets; in the hands of a woman, like a parasol on a cloudy day. Since
Woman penetrates resentment by ridicule; man treats it with dull indifference. And
A snub from a woman is never forgotten. And for two reasons: because
(a) The lord of creation hates to be floored by the jiu-jitsu of feminine raillery; and because
(b) The last thing a man expects from a "ministering angel" is mundane mockery. Besides,
Deliberate derision murders, not only affection, but admiration.