“I am not in sympathy with advanced women,” he remarked, after a pause. “A woman should be womanly.”
He frowned again, and regarded the vicar through the chrysanthemums decorating the centre of the table.
“She smokes,” he said presently, and added, after a moment—“so does Belle. Belle used not to do these things. She is much too nice a woman to have a cigarette stuck between her lips.”
Walter Errol took the cigar from between his own lips, waved the cloud of smoke aside, and laughed.
“John,” he said, “what fools we men are!”
Mr Musgrave stared.
“I don’t follow you,” he remarked coldly.
“It’s all prejudice, old fellow,” said the vicar pleasantly. “If there were any real evil in it, should you and I be doing it?”
“You wouldn’t have women do the things men do, would you?” demanded his host.
“Why not?”