"Notoriety—and, shall we say, position?"
"Are you not judging without sufficient reason?" asked Herbert Briarfield warmly. "You have never seen Miss Castlemaine."
"I am no longer a boy," said the other, with a sigh.
"What might that mean?"
"That I have seen women—in Paris, in Berlin, in Vienna, in Damascus, Constantinople, Cairo, Bagdad, Calcutta. Yes, I have seen them—women of all tongues, all nationalities. And everywhere they are the same."
"Well, and what is the sum total of your experience?"
"I would rather not tell you."
"Why? It is always well to know the truth."
"Mr. Briarfield, if there is one thing I am afraid of it is the truth. For many years I have made it my business to keep my eyes from beholding the truth; nevertheless, it always keeps thrusting itself upon me—always. That is why I am a sad man."
"Perhaps you have only seen one side of life."