Mrs. M. (eagerly). I delight in having him admire any one whom I consider worthy of admiration. I do not like to see any man run away with by an infatuation for mere outside beauty.
Beverly. Yet "mere outside beauty" is clearly the most important gift Nature has bestowed upon women.
Mrs. M.
Miss A. } Oh! oh! oh!
Philip. What is your recipe, Frank, for putting an end to disagreements between husbands and wives?
Beverly. Wives are to give up studying their own requirements, and try to understand their husbands.
Miss A. And what will the result be?
Beverly. All men, instead of remaining bachelors like myself, will become infatuated with domestic life. No man could resist the prospect of being constantly caressed, waited upon, admired, flattered. And once married, a man's own home would become so fascinating a place to him that he would never, except against his will, exchange it for his club or the drawing-room of his neighbor's wife.
Miss A. And in return are husbands prepared to give up a nice sense of their own requirements and study to understand their wives?
Beverly. Not at all: they are far too stupid to understand their wives: there is something too fine and elusive about a woman's intellect and heart to be attained by one of our sex. Besides, are things ever equal—two souls ever just sufficiently like and unlike exactly to understand each other? Let women perfect themselves in the art of giving happiness, and the good action will command its own reward.
Miss A. Do you comprehend, Jenny, what the full duty of woman is? For my part, I think it is better to go on in the old way, since it is said that "a mill, a clock and a woman always want mending." I think women have their own little requirements.