"But surely not two such—such contradictory things! I have never done so in my life!"
"You! You're only a man! You've not our gifts! I can tell you!" My lady spread out her fan. "Why, a woman can think of a hundred different things at once, all of them contradictory!" She nodded at him complacently.
"It's ridiculous! It's impossible! Are women's brains so—so incoherent?"
"Most of 'em," answered her ladyship. "They jump, you see."
"Jump?" Philip was thoroughly bewildered.
"Jump. From one thing to another. You'll arrive at a new thought by degrees, and you'll know how you got there. Women don't think like that. Cleone could not tell you why she thinks well and ill of you at once, but she does."
"But surely if she reasons with herself she'll see how absurd—"
"If she what?"
"Reasons. I mean—"
"You're mad," said Lady Malmerstoke with conviction. "Women don't reason. That's a man's part. Why, do you suppose that if Cleone thought as you think, and had a brain like a man's, you'd be in love with her? Of course you'd not. You'd not be able to feel your superiority over her. Don't tell me!"