Miss Ramsey: "It's a clumsy word; I don't know that I shall. But what I mean is that I must act from a general principle, and that principle is that when a man is engaged, it doesn't matter whether the girl has thrown herself at him, or not—"
Miss Garnett: "She certainly did, from what Conny says."
Miss Ramsey: "He must be shown that other girls won't tolerate his behaving as if he were not engaged. It is wrong."
Miss Garnett: "We must stand together."
Miss Ramsey: "Yes. Though I don't infer that he has been attentive to other girls generally."
Miss Garnett: "No. I meant that if he has been coming here so much, you want to prevent his trifling with others."
Miss Ramsey: "Something like that. But it ought to be more definite. He ought to realize that if another girl cared for him, it would be cruel to her, paying her attentions, when he was engaged to some one else."
Miss Garnett: "And cruel to the girl he is engaged to."
Miss Ramsey: "Yes." She speaks coldly, vaguely. "But that is the personal ground, and I wish to avoid that. I wish to deal with him purely in the abstract."
Miss Garnett: "Yes, I understand that. And at the same time you wish to punish him. He ought to be made to feel it all the more because he is so severe himself."