"You think any man ever has been tamed and the beast cast out of him, even after marriage?" demanded Lady Johnson. She smiled, but I caught the undertone of bitterness in her gaiety, poor girl!
"Before marriage," said Claudia coolly, "man is exactly as treacherous as he is afterward;—no more so, no less. What about it? You take the creature as he is fashioned by his Maker, or you drive him away and live life like a cloistered nun. What is your choice, Penelope?"
"I have no passion for a cloister," replied the girl, so candidly that all laughed, and she blushed prettily.
"That is best," nodded Claudia; "accept the creature as he is. We're fools if we're bitten before we're married, and fortunate if we're not nipped afterward. Anyway, I love men, and so God bless them, for they can't help being what they are and it's our own fault if they play too roughly and hurt us."
Lady Johnson laughed and laid her hand lightly on my shoulder.
"Dear Jack," said she, "we do not mean you, of course."
"Oho!" cried Claudia, "it's in 'em all and crops out one day. Jack Drogue is no tamer than the next man. Nay, I know the sort—meek as a mouse among petticoats——"
"Claudia!" protested Lady Johnson.
"I hear you, Polly. But when I solemnly swear to you that I have been afraid of this young man——"
"Afraid of what?" said I, smiling at her audacity, but vexed, too.