on't know how awful it is for me to find you like this, my
little sister . . . of course you can't love him . . . if you'd married
him it would have been different.'

'Ah, Edward, so that's your philosophy. You say that though I don't love
him, if I'd married him it would have been different. So you won't let
me surrender to a man unless I can trick him or goad him into binding
himself to me for life. If I don't love him I may marry him and make
his life a hell and I shall be a good woman; but I mustn't live with him
illegally so that he may stick to me only so long as he cares for me.'

'I didn't say that,' stammered Edward. 'Of course, it's wrong to marry a
man you don't care for . . . but marriage is different, it sanctifies.'

'Sanctifies! Nothing sanctifies anything. Our deeds are holy or unholy
in themselves. Oh, understand me well, I claim no ethical revelation; I
don't care whether my deeds are holy or not. I judge nothing, not even
myself. All I say is that your holy bond is a farce; if women were
free--that is, trained, able and allowed to earn fair wages for fair
labour--then marriage might be holy. But marriage for a woman is a
monetary contract. It means that she is kept, clothed, amused; she is
petted like a favourite dog, indulged like a spoiled child. In exchange
she gives her body.'

'No, no.'

'Yes, yes. And the difference between a married woman and me is her
superior craft, her ability to secure a grip upon a man. You respect her
because she is permanent, as you respect a vested interest.'

The flush rose again in Edward's cheeks. As he lost ground he fortified
his obstinacy.

'You've sold yourself,' he said quickly, 'gone down into the gutter
. . . . Oh!'

'The gutter.' Victoria was so full of contempt that it almost hurt her.
'Of course I'm in the gutter. I always was in the gutter. I was in the
gutter when I married and my husband boarded and lodged me to be his
favourite. I was in the gutter when I had to kow-tow to underbred
people; to be a companion is to prostitute friendship. You don't mind
that, do you? I was in the gutter in the tea shops, when I decoyed men
into coming to the place because they could touch me, breathe me. I'm in
the gutter now, but I'm in the right one. I've found the one that's
going to make me free.'

Edward was shaken by her passion.

'You'll never be free,' he faltered, 'you're an outcast.'

'An outcast from what?' sneered Victoria. 'From society? What has