‘We’re certainly not so subtle as women.’
‘That’s easily explained. You are the hunter; we are the hunted. We need a lot of tricks to dodge you. For all that, a woman is quite simple. What she really craves for is affection. That’s what she is here for; give her that and she’ll give you the moon.’
‘Well, you’re a marvel.’
‘No; I’m only a girl.’
‘But other girls don’t talk like you.’
‘More’s the pity! You men are so scarce that girls frequently sink opinions and principles to catch you. It’s really not worth the trouble. There are more things in heaven and earth than chocolates or trousers. Why should a girl let a man be the great I-Am? It’s not good for him! It makes him a Turk! Equality of intellect and opportunity is surely reasonable.’
‘By Jove! I believe you’re a suffragette.’
‘Why not? You’ve had it all your own way for centuries. You’ve flooded the world with materialism. There are better things. Surely you don’t want us to be German Fraus—fat frumps, exclusively absorbed in cooking, kids, and kirks. You need Idealism. Girls have more of it than men. And it’s your pagan code that’s really upset our sex. You’d sooner have omelet than love.’
‘But we must have omelets.’
‘Omelets, without love, are like chickens without breasts. You don’t want a woman simply to preside over jam-jars. If the German women had only asserted themselves there would never have been a war.’