"It is false, slave! He would only be ridiculous if he married one that was not pure as himself."
"Then, my lord, he would not only be wounded—he would be killed outright, for he would be doubly and unmercifully laughed at."
"It is false! it is false. Where did you learn all this?"
"I have seen Parisian women at the Isle of France, and at Pondicherry, my lord. Moreover, I learned a good deal during our voyage; I talked with a young officer, while you conversed with the young priest."
"So, like the sultans of our harems, civilized men require of women the innocence they have themselves lost."
"They require it the more, the less they have of it, my lord."
"To require without any return, is to act as a master to his slave; by what right?"
"By the right of the strongest—as it is among us, my lord."
"And what do the women do?"
"They prevent the men from being too ridiculous, when they marry, in the eyes of the world."