The parlor-maid knocked at the door.
“There’s a young gentleman from the Daily Review, sir,” she said. “He says the doctor promised him an interview.”
“The doctor is resting—” Marian began.
Andrew sat up.
“No!” he said. “I’ll see him. Bring him up, Sarah!”
“I’ll go,” said Marian.
“I’d rather you stayed,” said Andrew. “I’d like you to hear what I’m going to say.”
He was sitting up in bed, more rumpled and excited than ever, when the young man entered. The interviewer was surprised and a little embarrassed by the presence of a wife, because the opinions which the doctor was reputed to hold on marriage were not the sort of views that most wives like. However—
“We thought it would be of great interest to our readers if you would give us a few words on ‘Marriage from a Man’s Point of View,’” he began; “along the lines of the address you gave before the Moral Courage Club one afternoon last week, you know.”
“I said that marriage hampered and degraded a man, didn’t I? I said that marriage was slavery for my sex—don’t take that down, that’s only what I said last week. Now, please get this properly. I offer, as my earnest conviction, based upon experiment, that marriage is man’s only safeguard. Without its protection man could not survive. This is a woman’s world, dominated and developed by women. Every man imperatively requires the protection of a wife. Without it, he—he would be hounded to death.”