Aalbom protested warmly against Worse's theory, and his wife could be heard ejaculating in the distance.

Pastor Martens now came and joined the disputants.
Jacob Worse was becoming excited; he spoke hurriedly, and his tone showed that he only restrained himself by an effort.

On what absurd principles, he maintained, was the education of women generally conducted! How many thousands ended their career, worn out by the drudgery of household duties! Their intellect was wasted, and their strength exhausted for nothing.

It was quite easy to talk so glibly of purity in a state of society where man was to know everything and have a right to everything, while woman was to be debarred from all intellectual knowledge.
At the first pause in the conversation, Aalbom came to the front as woman's champion, and the magistrate and Martens joined him.

The conversation now waxed warmer, and Delphin wandered off to Madeleine, leaving Worse struggling alone against the arguments which both sides brought to bear on him.