“It is the old story,” she said; “half the world is active, and the other half passive.”
“But you exert yourself to be passive.”
“Oh, certainly; one is simply nothing if one doesn’t exert one’s self. My mission, I am sure, is to be material for the active people.”
“But you told me once you wanted to take the world into your hand,” said Tom, “and make its heart beat fast or slow as you wished.”
“I know I did, but I have changed.”
“Radically, completely?”
Maud lifted her eyes for a moment and looked at Tom, then dropped them again.
“My desire has not changed, but I now know I can’t do it. It’s not my line at all.”
Tom looked up.
“Do you mean you acquiesce in defeat?” he asked. “Can you contemplate wanting a thing and not getting it?”