“Whoever will wait like the saint upon the pillar, will suffer like the traveller in the desert; serve like a slave, and demand like a king; have patience greater than Job; love ceaseless as a fountain in the hills; who sees in the darkness and is not afraid of light; who distrusts not, neither believes, but stands ready to be taught; who is prepared for a kiss this hour and a reproach the next; who turneth neither to right nor left at her words, but hath an unswerving eye—these shall understand a woman.”
“I never knew you so philosophical. Where did you get this deliverance on the subject?”
“May not even a woman have a moment of inspiration?”
“I should expect that of my wife.”
“And I should expect that of my husband. It is trite to say that men are vain; I shall remark that they sit so much in their own light that they are surprised if another being crosses their disc.”
“You always were clever, my dear, and you always were twice too good for me.”
“Well, every woman—worth the knowing—is a missionary.”
“Where does Lali come in?”
“Can you ask? To justify the claims of womanhood in spite of race—and all.”
“To bring one man to a sense of the duty of sex to sex, eh?”