"
"Then I believe it is possible to make the senses the means of saving
the soul at critical times," she answered; "and at all events I know
this, that I more earnestly desire to be a good woman now than I ever
did before."
"It would be a dangerous doctrine," I began.
"Only in cases where the previous moral development had not been of a
high order," she interrupted. I felt it was useless to pursue that part
of the subject, so I waited a little, and then I said: "Am I to
understand, then, that you are going to give up your position in
society, and all your friends, for the sake of this one man, who
probably does not care for you, who certainly does not respect you, and
of whom you know nothing? Verily, he has gained an easy victory! But,
of course, you know now what his object has been from the first."
"I know what you mean," she answered, indignantly; "but you are quite
wrong; he does care for me. And if I give up my position in society for
his sake, he is worth it, and I am content. And it is my own doing,
too. I know that there cannot be one law for me and another for all the
other women in the world, and if I break through a social convention I
am prepared to abide by the consequences.
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