“Not in the least. We all have our inner sanctuary, and consequently we have our esoteric and exoteric friendships, and the lookers-on make mistakes as to which is which.”
“That is very true. There is nothing in which people are so much deceived about each other as in their emotions. Human nature is so much more many-sided than the world is willing to admit.”
“You believe that the good are not as good as they would have us believe, nor the bad as bad?”
“Exactly.”
She was a woman worth talking to, and I roused myself.
“It can be demonstrated. Goodness is largely a question of having aptitude for the latest conventions.”
“Demonstrate,” she challenged, and then added: “Personally, I feel it, but have not the proof to hand.”
I took up the challenge easily.
“For instance, in ancient Sparta, thieving was a virtue and cowardice a crime. Nowadays, a coward may get along very well, but a thief would probably come to grief very soon. So it is with many other things.”
“You think that a criminal may make a charming member of society, a good husband and father?”