They were together again in the studio that afternoon. Betty Berry was making tea, her strength renewed. Helen Quiston had come and gone. Morning had been away for an hour.
“Strange man,” she said, “let us reason together.... You are working now for men. That is right, but when you are full of power, when you come really into the finished man you are to be, and all these hard years have healed beyond the last ache—you will work for women. Does it sound strange from me, that the inspiration of the world to-day is with the women? Why, it seems to me that men are caught in the very science of cruelty. And then, the women of to-day represent the men of the future. When one of the preparers of the way brings his gospel to women, he kindles the inspiration of the next generation. But this fire can only come from the solitary heights—never from the earth-sweet meadows——”
He shook his head.
“The men who have done the most beautiful verses and stories about children—have had no children of their own. A man cannot be the father of his country and the father of a house. The man who must do the greatest work for women must hunger for the vision of Woman, and not be yoked with one.... It is so clear. It is always so.”
“All that you say makes me love you more, Betty——”
“Don’t, dear. Don’t make it harder for me.... It is not I that thrills you. It is my speaking of your work that fills your heart with gladness—the things you feel to do——”
“They are from you——”
“Don’t say that. It is not true.”
“But I never saw so clearly——”