He screwed up his mouth, and repressed a smile.
"As long as women are born it could happen, I suppose, and there is as yet no dearth of females."
"You are laughing at me!" she cried, flushing angrily. "I asked you a civil question. Why should you make sport of me?"
Now he smiled, openly, at her evident vexation, but he said, gravely:
"If you are born great, you will be great, no matter if you be man or woman, no matter when you live or where, but the great ones of earth are few and far between. Some who were not born great, have, by hard work and much patience, attained to it. But a woman is usually a stupid thing, and her head is much too light for climbing."
"If she were very wise, could she have power, even in the Forbidden City?" Tuen persisted.
He nodded.
"If she were very wise, she would have power, it makes no difference where she lived. Even on a desert island she would have power over the wild beasts, for knowledge is power the world over. It is because females do not possess it that they are weak and of little repute. When they become wise they will rule the earth, for a man is but clay in the hands of a skilful woman. She pats him into whatever shape she wants him."
"I would like to be wise and great," Tuen said, with a sigh.