“Of course not, if you make up your mind in advance that you won’t ask her,” he returned.
A flicker of a smile showed in the dark eyes.
“If you only realised how difficult it is! She’ll want it explained—why I want to go, and all that.”
“But that’s cheek,” he said, surprised. “Don’t you see it’s cheek. You ought not to submit to that sort of thing. It isn’t any business of hers.”
She laughed.
“It isn’t... But it’s always understood in the case of a girl—it’s one of the indignities we put up with.”
“Then don’t put up with them. Don’t you see that in putting up with them you are responsible for their existence. It’s up to you to make a stand for the good of the next generation.”
“That’s not as simple as it sounds when one has to exist,” she said.
“No.”
He was silent for a moment, then he returned to the attack.