"'The Huntress,' I broke in again.
"'Pallas Athene, the guardian and guide of heroes,' she countered neatly.
"'I'm glad you don't like Venus, Miss Van Wyck,' put in Jerry quickly. 'She made a lot of trouble, just because she was pretty. Diana—she was the right sort, no sentimental rot for her.'
"'Of course. Sentiment is rot and so sloppy.'
"Jerry laughed ingenuously. 'That's a good word,' he said. 'Imagine Diana being sloppy.'
"'Women aren't nearly as sentimental as they used to be. As a woman's weapon hysteria has gone to the dust heap. Women are learning independence. You believe in women thinking for themselves, don't you?'
"'Of course,' said Jerry. 'But they don't, do they?'
"'I do. It's one of my gospels to be self-sufficient. Don't you believe me?'
"'I'd like to, you're so lovely to look at. I'd like to think you were perfect in everything.'
"He refreshed her. Her artificialities one by one were falling away from her like discarded garments. And yet I was not sure that it wasn't artifice that was discarding them. She was very clever. I might have guessed it, had I noticed earlier the volumes by Freud and Strindberg on the little ebony side table."