e heart; that man alone is horrible and cruel and depraved;
that she is noble and pure-hearted, true and innocent; that woman is
above this miserable humanity--great like Diana of the Ephesians, pure
and strong and immaculate--without reproach! That is a tolerably
accurate history of most duels," added Mowbray coldly; "you will not
deny it."

Hoffland made no reply.

"You will not deny it because it is true," said Mowbray; "it is what
every man knows and feels and sees. You think it strange, then, that
they act as they do, in this perfect subservience to woman, knowing
what I have said is true. It is not more strange than any other
ludicrous inconsequence which men are guilty of. Look at me! I know
that what I have said is as true as the existence of this earth; and
now, what would I do? I will tell you. Were I in love with a woman, I
would make myself a child, and adore her, and sell my soul for her
caresses; and make my brain the tool of my infatuation by yielding to
her false, fatal sophistry, because that sophistry would be uttered by
red lips, and would become truth in the dazzling light of her
seductive smiles. Do you expect me, because I know it is all a lie, to
resist sighs and murmurs, and those languid glances, which women
employ to gain their ends? If you wish me to resist them, give me a
lump of ice instead of a heart--a freezing stream instead of a warm
current in my veins--make me a thinking machine, all brain; but take
care how you leave one particle of the man! That particle will fire
all; for the age tells me that woman is all pure, all-knowing, all
true--how can I go astray? I am not a machine--the atmosphere of that
old woman-worshipping world has nourished me, because I breathe it
now; and if the woman I loved madly wished a little murder enacted for
the benefit of her enemies, why, I cannot, dare not say, I would not
go and murder for her, thinking I was serving nothing but the cause of
purity and justice."

Hoffland listened to these coldly uttered words with some agitation,
but made no reply. They walked on for some moments in silence, and
Mowbray then said:

"The discussion is getting too grave, Charles; and I am afraid I have
spoken very harshly of women--led away in the discussion of this
subject. But remember that most of these unhappy affairs indirectly
arise from this fatal philosophy; and I have reason to suppose that
the present one, which has so nearly taken from me one or both of my