"I'm afraid I don't follow you," declared Mavis, as she lit a cigarette.
"Wait. What would nearly all women do if you were mad enough to tell them what you've done?"
"Drop on me."
"Why?"
"Because I've done wrong."
"Are women 'down' on men for 'getting round' girls, or forgery, or anything else you like?"
Mavis was compelled to acknowledge her sex's lack of enthusiasm in the condemnation of such malpractices.
"Then why would they hunt you down?" cried Miss Toombs triumphantly. "Because, in doing as you've done, you've been a traitress to the economic interests of our sex. Women have mutually agreed to make marriage the price of their surrender to men. Girls who don't insist on this price choke men off marrying, and that's why they're never forgiven by other women."
"Is it you talking?"
"No, my dear Keeves; women, in this world, who look for marriage, have to play up to men and persuade them they're worth the price of a man losing his liberty."