"These are the creatures," he thought to himself, "into whose keeping men otherwise sensible give the happiness of their lives.

Is there any other object in creation, I wonder, which answers its end as badly as a woman does ?" He stopped before her once more.

Her breathing was easier; the dark flush on her face was dying out again.
"Ready ?" he repeated.

"Yes; ready at last.

Listen to me; and let's get it over.