in after she had joined her son and
explained to the astonished young man his hopes and aspirations toward
the mother. Whereupon, as the woman still refused, he finally left, to
all appearances broken-hearted.

I have had one experience of this sort myself that shows how even the
noblest man may suddenly suffer an infatuation capable of sweeping him
on to disaster. It was at the time of my husband's death--during days
when he lay half conscious in the hospital following his automobile
accident. A distinguished clergyman, Dr. B----, who had known Julian
slightly, visited him here and in this way made my acquaintance. And he
fell violently in love with me.

For months during my early widowhood he saw me almost every day and
wrote me impassioned letters, declaring that I was the only woman in the
world for him, I was his true mate, he could not live without me, he was
ready to give up everything for me, to go away with me to some distant
city--any city--and begin life all over again.

This clergyman was a man of fifty, a brilliant preacher, widely honored
and loved, who had never in his life, he assured me, committed any
deliberately sinful act such as this would be, for he was married to a
fine woman who had been his faithful companion for many years and had
borne him two children--two boys. All this he was ready to renounce for
me--reputation, honor, duty. He said it was fate. His desire for me was
too strong to be resisted. The sin, the disgrace, the pain that he would
cause--none of these could keep back this man of God from his evil
purpose.

ARE WOMEN DISLOYAL TO OTHER WOMEN?

In many pages of my diary (written sincerely at the time) I present the
conventional view of sex offences, the comforting view to women.

_But--_

When I search deep into my soul with an honest desire to find the truth,
I am not sure that women are as blameless in the sex struggle with men
as I would like to believe. Very often they are less pursued than
pursuing. Every man of the world can recall the cases where women have
played the role of temptress, using their charms against unwilling
victims, notably husbands of other women. _I am afraid the rule is that
women are disloyal to other women where there is any serious emotional
conflict._

The editor of a popular magazine told me once about a prize contest that
they had for the best essay on a woman's sex solidarity union--they
called it the W.S.S.U. The idea was that if women wou