What does the modern woman desire or expect from a man? You are sick of marriage, it seems.
Well, the instinctive _amourette_ had its poetry--in Arcadia. Keep your hands quiet a moment.
Let me warm them first. Remember we are in the grip of a London May.
All right--come. (_She comes over to the picture. He stops her._) No, you must not look yet.
You have become quite a tyrant, do you know?
(_taking her hands_) Cold? Yes; I have kept you too long. You have such good hands! I wish I could paint them.
(_kneels at fire, and warms her hands_) One more chance!
I shall make the most of it. Well, but what do you want? A friendship, passionate and Platonic? Why, it takes all the tyranny of a strong man like Swift to keep instinct within bounds. The victory killed Stella and Vanessa.
Oh, we are more rational now! Then, there were two of them; that was the difficulty there.
Yes, there were two of them. Except in a desert island, there is always a danger of that.
Why are women so charming--and unsatisfactory? We deceive ourselves, and are deceived, just like you.
It is the will of God--of Nature, I should say. She is an artist; but as for her morality--
Art is Nature's final aim. Love is the Art of Arts, and Art is long.
But could you not be a _little_ more constant, if you tried?
Oh, _we_ can resist temptation, when we are not tempted--just like women.
Your _capacity_ for temptation is wonderful.
Yes. _We_ know our own frailty, _you_ never quite realise yours.
The bitterness of life. Are your hands warm yet? (_Takes her hands._)
(_She goes back to the "throne." He poses her, and returns to the easel._)
(_painting again_) Marriage must certainly be modified. A woman should have some honourable way of escape, when her husband gets tired of her.
(_laughing_) How delicately you put it! But the wife? If you had to bear all you so chivalrously inflict on us in "honourable" marriage, I wonder how many marriages there would be?
Instinct would be too strong for us still. But we should outscheme Nature. We should invent. What has a woman ever invented since the beginning of the world? Well, you can easily rail us out of marriage. How will you live then?
I believe woman's great ambition is to do all the work of the world, and maintain man in idleness.