'And deny it? Never!'
'Can you lay your hand on your heart, and say you've tried as hard to entertain your other neighbour as I have to keep mine going?'
'Ah, well, we men aren't as good at it. After all, it's rather the woman's "part," isn't it?'
'The art of pleasing? I suppose it is—but it's rather a Geisha view of life, don't you think?'
'Not at all; rightly viewed, it's a woman's privilege—her natural function.'
'Then the brutes are nobler than we.'
Wondering, he glanced at her. The face was wholly reassuring, but he said, with a faint uneasiness—
'If it weren't you, I'd say that sounds a little bitter.'
'Oh, no,' she laughed. 'I was only thinking about the lion's mane and the male bird's crest, and what the natural history bores say they're for.'