“And how am I to cure you of the slandering of mankind?”
“You have always a retort handy, and nobody could complain of dullness with you, but,” he said, clutching meditatively at his head, “if I....”
“Am locked up by the police,” she finished. “That seems to be all that your fate still lacks.”
“But for you, I should long ago have been sent off somewhere. You are a disturbing element.”
“Are you tired of living peaceably, and already craving for a storm? You promised me to lead a different life. What have you not promised me? And I was so happy that they even noticed my delight at home. And now you have relapsed into your old mood,” she protested, as he seized her hand.
“Pretty hand!” he said, kissing it again and again without any objection from her, but when he sought to kiss her cheek she drew back.
“You refuse again. Is your reserve never to end? Perhaps you keep your caresses for....”
She drew her hand away hastily.
“You know I do not like jests of that kind. You must break yourself of this tone, and of wolfish manners generally; that would be the first step towards unaffected manhood.”
“Tone and manners! You are a child still occupied with your ABC. Before you lie freedom, life, love, happiness, and you talk of tone and manners. Where is the human soul, the woman in you? What is natural and genuine in you?”