He was puzzled by a curious bitterness in her tone, as well as by a perplexity as to her exact meaning. Her own frock was certainly prudishly high.
“I don’t quite follow your definition, anyhow,” he said.
“No? I’ll try another. There are only two classes of women—those who ought to have been born men, and those who ought never to have been born at all. I am of the first, Nor’s of the second.”
He shook his head laughingly.
“Oh! but I won’t believe that of either.”
“If I expected to be believed I should have more hesitation in telling the truth,” she replied, gravely. “We are both mistakes, but Nor is an incorrigible one. You heard her say she’s dropped Socialism. She didn’t tell you she’s dropped a power of money, too, in subscriptions to the Cause. She probably thought equality would come about in three months, and that she was merely disgorging in advance.”
“Is that why she looks so sad?”
“Dear me, no; money doesn’t trouble her.”
“What’s the matter, then?”
“She’s been married.”