"Do you know whom he took for Desmond, Mr. Allen? I have an idea it was
himself."
Mr. Allen, had now recovered some of his composure.
"If so, it was done unconsciously," he said. "I suppose an author must
put his best thoughts in the mouth of his hero."
"But it is like him?" she insisted.
"Yes, he holds the same views."
"Which you do not agree with."
"I have not said I did not agree with them," he replied, taking up his
own defence; "the point is not that men are more inconstant than women,
but that women have more excuse for inconstancy. If I remember
correctly, Desmond, in a letter to Rosamond, says: 'Inconstancy in a
woman, because of the present social conditions, is often pardonable. In
a man, nothing is more despicable.' I think that is so. I believe that
a man should stick by the woman to whom he has given his word as closely
as he sticks by his friends."
"Ah!" exclaimed the aggressive second voice, "that is all very well. But
how about the woman to whom he has not given his word? Unfortunately,
the present social conditions allow a man to go pretty far without a
definite statement."
At this I could not refrain from looking at Miss Trevor. She was bending
over her knitting and had broken her thread.
"It is presumption for a man to speak without some foundation," said the
Celebrity, "and wrong unless he is sure of himself."
"But you must admit," the second voice continued, "that a man has no
right to amuse himself with a woman, and give her every reason to believe
he is going to marry her save the only manly and substantial one.
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