Page:The leopard's spots - a romance of the white man's burden-1865-1900 (IA leopardsspotsrom00dixo).pdf/353

 "Well, what's the use of a soul? I can't satisfy the wants of my body."

"Answer my question. Do you believe in anything?"

"Yes," he replied, his voice sinking to a tense whisper, "I believe in Woman,—in love."

"In Woman?"

"Yes, Woman."

"You mean women," she sneered.

He started at her answer, looked intently at her, and said deliberately,

"I mean you, the One Woman, the only woman in the world to me."

"I do not believe one word you have uttered, yet, I confess with shame, you have always fascinated me."

"Why with shame? You have but one life to live. The years pass. Even beauty so rare as yours fades at last. The end is the grave and worms. Why dash from your beautiful lips the cup of life when it is full to the brim?"

"How skillfully you echo the dark thoughts that flit on devil wings through the soul, when we feel the bitterness of life's failure, its contradictions and mysteries!" she exclaimed, closing her eyes for a moment and leaning back in her chair.

"You've often talked to me about the necessity of some sort of slavery for the Negro if he remain in America. I begin to believe that slavery is a necessity for all women."

"I fail to see it, sir."

"All women are born slaves and choose to remain so through life. It is curious to see you, a proud imperious woman, born of a race of unconquerable men, staggering to-day under the chains of four thousand years of conventional laws made by the brute strength of men. And you, if you struggle at all, beat your wings against the bars that the male brute has built about