Such were the names
by which he ventured to call these bugbears of the world. It was so
delightful to live with a man who himself had a title of his own, but who
could speak of dukes and marquises as being quite despicable by reason of
their absurd position. And as they became gay and free after their
luncheon he expressed almost as much contempt for honesty as for dukes,
and showed clearly that he regarded matrimony and marquises to be equally
vain and useless. "How dare you say such things in our hearing?" exclaimed
Mrs. Carbuncle.
"I assert that if men and women were really true, no vows would be needed;
and if no vows, then no marriage vows. Do you believe such vows are kept?"
"Yes," said Mrs. Carbuncle enthusiastically.
"I don't," said Lucinda.
"Nor I," said the Corsair. "Who can believe that a woman will always love
her husband because she swears she will? The oath is false on the face of
it."
"But women must marry," said Lizzie. The Corsair declared freely that he
did not see any such necessity.
And then, though it could hardly be said that this Corsair was a handsome
man, still he had fine Corsair eyes, full of expression and determination,
eyes that could look love and bloodshed almost at the same time; and then
he had those manly properties--power, bigness, and apparent boldness--
which belong to a Corsair.
Pages:
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673