"
"I didn't think there were persons in the Solomons who needed such
books," she retaliated. "But you are certainly one--you and your
custodians of virtue."
He winced, but Joan rattled on with the platitudinous originality of
youth.
"As if anything good were worth while when it has to be guarded and put
in leg-irons and handcuffs in order to keep it good. Your desire for a
chaperone as much as implies that I am that sort of creature. I prefer
to be good because it is good to be good, rather than because I can't be
bad because some argus-eyed old frump won't let me have a chance to be
bad."
"But it--it is not that," he put in. "It is what others will think."
"Let them think, the nasty-minded wretches! It is because men like you
are afraid of the nasty-minded that you allow their opinions to rule
you."
"I am afraid you are a female Shelley," he replied; "and as such, you
really drive me to become your partner in order to protect you."
"If you take me as a partner in order to protect me . . . I . . . I
shan't be your partner, that's all. You'll drive me into buying Pari-
Sulay yet."
"All the more reason--" he attempted.
"Do you know what I'll do?" she demanded. "I'll find some man in the
Solomons who won't want to protect me.
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