They had been arguing over the sentiment of the verses to the refrain of “He travels the fastest who travels alone,” she attacking and he defending it.
“It’s a most abominably selfish creed,” she cried.
“The writer wasn’t concerning himself with the ethics of it—he was merely stating the fact,” he retorted.
“I don’t admit it is a fact,” she said.
“Few women will admit the truth of what they don’t like,” he said, and “That is mere instinct,” she answered, “because mostly what they like is good, and the truth is good surely.”
“Sometimes truth is only a point of view,” he said.
“Nonsense—truth is truth, as right is right.”
“Then how do you account for it that I claim this writer’s words as the truth, and you claim them to be untruths? The world judging it might be divided as we are. How can you say which is the truth?”
She could not answer this, so swiftly struck at a side issue. “Badness is worse than untruth, and if the principle is bad, why glorify it in verse?”
“But I say it is true; if you admit the truth, to attack the badness, you’re saying the truth is bad.”