manlike enough to think that after all you had only taken what nobody else had expressed a desire for. A man does not seem to value anything unless someone else is struggling for it."
"Why, what sage and valuable ideas you have about men, haven't you, my dear?"
"Well, you can't deny but what there is truth in them."
"I not only can, but I do. On behalf of my fellow-men, and on behalf of myself, I deny it."
"Then, on the other hand," she continued, "if I confessed to you that I did have half a score or half a dozen of lovers, you would perhaps think I had been jilting somebody or had been jilted. So you see, taking it all in, and thinking the matter over, I shall refuse to answer your question."
"Then you will not confess?"
"Yes, I shall confess. I have been wanting to confess to you for some little time, and have felt guilty because I did not do so."
"I am prepared to receive the confession," replied the young man lazily, "and to grant absolution."
"Well, you talk a great deal about America and about Americans, and talk as if you were proud of the country, and of its ways, and of its people."
"Why, I am," answered the young man.
