"I believe that is so," she replied.
"I am very glad to hear you say that. If you can still find charity in your heart for your own sex, surely I may believe, even in the face of my friends' hostile criticism."
"And is there a woman, whom you—shall we say, 'respect' enough to believe in—no matter what is said of her?"
"There is," he replied.
"Then be sure she has some virtues worthy of that respect. I can picture," she went on, "the woman whom you should marry. You must be, to her, an ideal, and she must live her life in terms of you. Gentle and refined, and knowing more of your home than of the world."
The Secretary sighed.
"These are the women," he said, "that we dream of, not that we marry."
"There are many such in the world," she returned. "Is not the woman you are defending one of them?"
"No," he said, "not like that."
"Then she is not worthy of you, she will grate upon you. Does she ever do so?"