Gertrude was at
the tea and two or three others. It wasn't a party.
The two men had instinctively drawn controversial swords almost at sight
of each other and for the hour and a half that they were together the
combat raged mightily, to the unmixed satisfaction of both participants.
The feelings of the bystanders were perhaps more diverse, but Rose, at
least, enjoyed herself thoroughly, not only over seeing her husband's
big, formidable, finely poised mind in action again, but over a change
that had taken place in the nature of some of his ideas. The talk, of
course, ranged everywhere: Socialism, feminism, law and its crimes, art
and the social mind. Gertrude took a hand in it now and then, and it was
something Rodney said to her, in answer to a remark about dependent
wives, that really made Rose sit up.
"Wives aren't dependents," he said, "except as they let their husbands
make them think they are. Or only in very rare cases. Certainly I don't
know of a wife who doesn't render her husband valuable economic services
in exchange for her support.
Pages:
974
975
976
977
978
979
980
981
982
983
984
985
986
987
988
989
990
991
992
993
994
995
996
997
998