Elizabeth sat still, looking at her vis-à-vis of life, and feeling very uneasily what she had never felt before. She began therewith to ponder sundry extraordinary propositions about the inequalities of social condition and the relative duties of man to man.
"What right have I," she said suddenly, "to so much more than she has?"
"Very much the sort of right that I have to be an American, while somebody else is a Chinese."
"Chance," said Elizabeth.
"No, there is no such thing as chance," he said seriously.
"What then?"
"The fruit of industry, talent, and circumstance."
"Not mine."
"No, but your father's, who gives it to you."
"But why ought I to enjoy more than she does? — in the abstract, I mean."