250 DECEMBER 



to know whether a woman loves him before he 

 asks." 



" I think in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred 

 he does know, or he might know, at least, if he 

 chose to exercise common sense." 



" But," I said, taking- her at a disadvantage, 

 " you contradict yourself, for you say that a woman 

 is so unwilling to be the only one who loves that 

 she will not own even to herself that she loves. If 

 she will not own it to herself, how shall she show it 

 to him ? And if she does not show it to him, how 

 shall he know it ? No, you don't expect him to 

 exercise common sense ; you expect him to be 

 superhuman, which is unreasonable." 



" As I said before, reason has no place in the 

 matter," answered Magdalen loftily, "so that I 

 cannot be blamed for want of it. Where there is 

 no reason it would be superfluous to attempt to 

 manufacture it in the person of a single individual." 



That is the way Magdalen gets out of difficulties 

 when she is hard pressed. Jim only laughed. 

 Like most men, he detests women with logical 

 minds, and a woman who could bring an argument 

 to a satisfactory and perfectly fair conclusion would 

 have no merit in his eyes. 



After he had taken Magdalen back to the 

 Manor and had settled himself in an armchair for 

 his last pipe, I thought it advisable to continue the 

 conversation. 



" Talking about Nancy," I said, "what do you 

 think of the matter ? Do you consider that she 

 was justified by the event ? " 



" No, I do not," replied Jim. 



