"By all means, if I loved her and she was so minded. If I really cared for her, you see, I should think it the greatest honour to be elevated to the uses of her playthings and her door-mats, and I should count myself unworthy to be adapted to such purposes."
"I call that unmanly," remarked Paul. "Even if a man does love a woman, he owes a duty to himself as well as to her."
Edgar merely chuckled.
"I see nothing to laugh at," quoth Paul severely. "I did not say anything humorous."
"Not intentionally," murmured Edgar.
"It seems to me," continued Paul, "that a man is unfair to himself and to the woman when he grovels at her feet. A sensible and equal affection is better for both of them."
"O noble judge! O excellent young man!" exclaimed Edgar.
"What I am saying is common sense," added Paul, "though you appear to think me harsh and unloving."
"Not harsh and unloving, my dear Paul; merely foolish and ignorant," replied Edgar.
"I cannot see the sense of throwing a glove among lions just for the sake of picking it up again," said the sensible Joanna. "It seems to me a most unnecessary and absurd action."