“No, I won’t say that. The uncertain position of affairs....”
“When, oh! when will the day dawn on which the wife will manage her own affairs and have no need to go begging to her husband?”
“When she works herself. A man, your father, has earned your money. The men have gained all the wealth there is in the world; therefore it is but just that a sister should inherit less than her brother, especially as the brother is born with the duty to provide for a woman, while the sister need not provide for a man. Do you understand?”
“And you call that justice? Can you honestly maintain that it is? Ought we not all to share and share alike?”
“No, not always. One ought to share according to circumstances and merit. The idler who lies in the grass and watches the mason building a house, should have a smaller share than the mason.”
“Do you mean to insinuate that I am lazy?”
“H’m! I’d rather not say anything about that. But when I used to lie on the sofa, reading, you considered me a loafer, and I well remember that you said something to that effect in very plain language.”
“But what am I to do?”
“Take the children out for walks.”
“I’m not constituted to look after the children.”