"Witness the fact that they have adopted every child that they could find—and spoiled them and pampered them beyond reason. Witness their squabble for men—and the rapidity with which they have abandoned established morals and their former settled way of life.
"They are the product of a ravening nature trying desperately to restore a status quo after a debacle, the magnitude of which has never been rivaled in history.
"They aren't quite human!"
She stood there, looking searchingly up and down the table to see what effect her words had had. After a moment she asked, "Are there any questions?"
Matt, who believed in striking while the iron was hot, asked, "You can substantiate this?"
"Marties' Law?" She replied in a puzzled voice. "There are volumes of proof. Marties' own paper. 'The Law of Nature's Equilibrium.' It has pages and pages of statistics ... the abnormal laxity of morals during World Wars I and II ... the effect of the cholera plagues in Naples, in...." She broke off. "Oh, I could cite examples the rest of the night."
"So what?" came Nesbit's challenging voice like a sword-cut. Barb turned to him as if facing a heckler, her face suffusing rosily with anger. "If you're unable to see how dangerous these women are, you should be psychoanalyzed yourself!"
Matt said, "Explain, Barb."
"They've reverted to the primitive. A matriarchy is one of the earliest forms of society. They are irresponsible and untrustworthy. If we are to use them at all in the work ahead, they'll have to be handled like a chain gang!"