"Say your say, my dear, and I'll promise you."
"You will not then expose yourself to the danger of any personal conflict with that most dreadful man, whose powers of mischief we do not know, and therefore cannot well meet or appreciate."
"Whew! is that what you mean?"
"Yes; you will, I am sure, promise me so much."
"Why, my dear, you see the case is this. In affairs of fighting, the less ladies interfere the better."
"Nay, why so?"
"Because—because, you see, a lady has no reputation for courage to keep up. Indeed, it's rather the other way, for we dislike a bold woman as much as we hold in contempt a cowardly man."
"But if you grant to us females that in consequence of our affections, we are not courageous, you must likewise grant how much we are doomed to suffer from the dangers of those whom we esteem."
"You would be the last person in the world to esteem a coward."
"Certainly. But there is more true courage often in not fighting than in entering into a contest."