"And he has never known home-life; his mother was a wicked woman, and was divorced!"
"How pitiful!"
"It quite accounts,—doesn't it?—for his badness?"
"I don't think he is at all bad," Honor said unexpectedly. "He's been badly hit and wants to hit back; that's about what it is. To him women are all alike"—
"Not you!—he said you were, to his mind, the 'exception that proves the rule.'" Joyce interrupted.
Honor coloured as she continued,—"And he has very little respect for the sex. He requires to meet with some good, wholesome examples to set him right, poor fellow!"
"He thinks the world of you, Honey!"
"Does he?" with an embarrassed laugh. "Then he takes a queer way of showing it."
"That was your fault. You turned him down over Elsie Meek's case, and he was too proud to plead for himself. But I have watched him, Honey, and there isn't a thing you say or do he misses, when you and he are in the same room."
"Your imagination!" Honor said uncomfortably. "You forget he has just been trying to make love to you!"