Page:Teleny, or The Reverse of the Medal, t. I.djvu/106

 moral; for what is morality but prejudice?"

"Prejudice?"

"Well, is nature moral? Does the dog that smells and licks with evident gusto the first bitch that he meets, trouble his unsophisticated brains with morality? Does the poodle that endeavours to sodomize that little cur coming across the street care what a canine Mrs. Grundy will say about him?

"No, unlike poodles, or young Arabs, I had been inculcated with all kinds of wrong ideas, so when I understood what my natural feelings for Teleny were, I was staggered, horrified; and filled with dismay, I resolved to stifle them.

"Indeed, had I known human nature better, I should have left France, gone to the antipodes, placed the Himalayas as a barrier between us."

"Only to yield to your natural tastes with someone else, or with him, had you happened to meet unexpectedly after many years."

"You are quite right; physiologists tell us that the body of man changes after seven years; a man's passions, however, remain always the same; though smouldering in a latent state, they