“Hector, you rave!”
“I tell ye she loves an’ is grieving for ye——”
“A fiddlestick, Hector!”
“The de’il awa’ wi’ ye! I say she’s breakin’ her heart for ye, John!”
“Impossible! She hath no heart. She is naught but selfish pride, a creature hard and cold, soulless and fickle ... in fine, a very woman! And talking o’ The Sex, I have here a small effort in verse that I venture to think is somewhat felicitous. Hark’ee and judge!” And, selecting one of the many sheets of manuscript before him, Sir John read as follows:
“Old Satan womankind did plan
To be the bane and plague of man,
And woman since the world began
Hath been so.
For, be she, more than common, fair