"Yes, but you know that soon becomes a mere supposition, even if it be not so at first. How snappish wives usually are! I notice it in the cottagers, in the tradesfolks; everywhere, where manners are not taught to enable one to sham before company. And the husbands are surly, unmanageable bears; there must be something wrong in marriage to produce these effects so frequently."
"And what remedy do you propose?" asked Mr. Godfrey, greatly amazed.
"Nay, that I have not considered. I only know that something is wrong now, and that I will not marry 'till it is set right."
"Wait 'till you fall in love, my dear."
"Fall in love, indeed! What a ridiculous thing to do! No, papa, I intend no fall; that is just why I will not marry. I might admire and respect a man as my equal; I might even venerate him as my superior, if he were my superior in mind; but bind myself to him as a slave I would not. No Grecian hero in all antiquity could inspire me with love enough to commit a moral suicide."
"The Grecian women claimed no equal rights," said Mr. Godfrey.
"No; I marked that well, papa. History is a treatise on men—on their deeds, their daring, their wisdom, their improvement or retrogression. Now and then, as if by accident, a woman's deeds were recorded, but very rarely. Why this has been, I cannot divine. Woman ought, could, should, and must rebel. This is the age of freedom. Does freedom concern only half of the human race?"
"No; it concerned the horde of women who forced their way into the royal apartments at Versailles. My Hester should have headed the procession?"
"Now, papa, that is not fair. You know well I do not wish to countenance rude and vulgar proceedings. Only I do not see why woman should not cultivate her intellectual and moral powers, and march onward in the career of perfectibility as well as man."