“Upon my word, you have a wholesome confidence in yourself!”
“I do not, in that respect, differ from my kind,” Hadria returned calmly.
“It is that which was that seems to you astonishing, not that which is to be,” Lady Engleton commented, pensively. “For my part I confess I am frightened, almost terrified at times, at that which is to be.”
“I am frightened, terrified, so that the thought becomes unbearable, at that which is,” said Hadria.
There was a long silence. Lady Engleton appeared to be again plunged in thought.
“The maternal instinct—yes; it seems to be round that unacknowledged centre that the whole storm is raging.”
“A desperate question that Society shrinks from in terror: whether women shall be expected to conduct themselves as if the instinct had been weighed out accurately, like weekly stores, and given to all alike, or whether choice and individual feeling is to be held lawful in this matter—there is the red-hot heart of the battle.”
“Remember men of science are against freedom in this respect. (I do wish our man of science would make haste.)”
“They rush to the rescue when they see the sentimental defences giving way,” said Hadria. “If the ‘sacred privilege’ and ‘noblest vocation’ safeguards won’t hold, science must throw up entrenchments.”
“I prefer the more romantic and sentimental presentment of the matter,” said Lady Engleton.