“There you are much mistaken, Mrs. Temperley,” said the Professor. “Men are as sensitive, in some respects, as women.”
“So much the better.”
“Then do you think it quite just to punish one man for the sin of another?”
“No; but there is a deadly feud between the sexes: it is a hereditary vendetta: the duty of vengeance is passed on from generation to generation.”
“Oh, Mrs. Temperley!” Lady Engleton’s tone was one of reproach.
“Yes, it is vindictive, I know; one does not grow tender towards the enemy at the grave of Ellen Jervis.”
“At least, there were two sinners, not only one.”
“Only one dies of a broken heart.”
“But why attempt revenge?”
“Oh, a primitive instinct. And anything is better than this meek endurance, this persistent heaping of penalties on the scapegoat.”