Page:A fool in spots (IA foolinspots00riveiala).pdf/140

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which is so different from mere education. Should she have had no charm of face, her gifted mind alone would have made her attractive beyond most women.

During the supper the talk drifted on woman's influence. Frost asserted that no woman ever reformed a man if his own mind was not strong enough to make him brace up; he would keep on to the end, an erring, stumbling wretch.

"You are mistaken," returned Marrion, "many a good woman, mother, wife, has borne the cross to where she could lay it aside and take a crown. Take the drink habit, for instance; once an excessive, always one. Now, I can drink or let it alone."

"I detest a drunkard," said Frost, laconically.

"But somebody's father, brother, or husband, might be strong in all other points and weak in that one," Cherokee spoke, just a trifle severely.

"And woman has the brunt of it to bear," said Marrion.

"I hold that we are nearer true happiness when we demand too little from men than when we expect too much," was Frost's retort.

Here Robert turned to Marrion:

"I see, from your play, that you believe in an equal standard of morals. You propose to be as lenient with women as with men."