"What? Do they ever tell it?"
"Often. It happens if the man is a very bold lover."
"Good gracious!" exclaimed Hertha, in horror. "If such a thing happened to me, I should show him the door pretty quick."
Then she became suddenly silent. She was asking herself the question, "What might he have said to her? What might she have answered?"
"Would it be possible," she inquired again eagerly, "for there to be women ... who--who wouldn't mind?"
"Oh yes," replied Meta.
"Who in the end might return such a bold man's love?"
"Yes; even that."
The world seemed to spin round in Hertha's brain, and with all the energy of innocence she cried, "Meta, I won't believe it!"
"There is a good deal that you would not believe, that I now know to be facts."