Was it true?
Had it, indeed, been only that?
Had he, indeed, been unbalanced and intoxicated merely from the desire of her exquisite body?
Had there been nothing beyond?
Were men really brutes ?--And here he walked up and down very fast.

What did it all mean?
What did life mean?
What was the truth of this thing, called love?
And so he strode for hours, reasoning things out.

But he knew that for his nature there could be no love without desire--and no desire without love.

And then his conversation with Francis Markrute came back to him, the day they had lunched in the city, when the financier had given his views about women.
Yes, they were right, those views.

A woman, to be dangerous, must appeal to both the body and brain of a man.