Page 562 - for-the-term-of-his-natural-life

bargee and took the gold medal. What a drink water is! The
fons Bandusiae splendidior vitreo was better than all the
Massic, Master Horace! I doubt if your celebrated liquor,
bottled when Manlius was consul, could compare with it.
But to my notable facts. I have found out to-night two
things which surprise me. One is that the convict who
attempted the life of Mrs. Frere is none other than the un-
happy man whom my fatal weakness caused to be flogged at
Port Arthur, and whose face comes before me to reproach
me even now. The other that Mrs. Carr is an old acquain-
tance of Frere’s. The latter piece of information I obtained
in a curious way. One night, while Mrs. Frere was not there,
we were talking of clever women. I broached my theory, that
strong intellect in women went far to destroy their woman-
ly nature.
‘Desire in man,’ said I, ‘should be Volition in women:
Reason, Intuition; Reverence, Devotion; Passion, Love. The
woman should strike a lower key-note, but a sharper sound.
Man has vigour of reason, woman quickness of feeling. The
woman who possesses masculine force of intellect is abnor-
mal.’ He did not half comprehend me, I could see, but he
agreed with the broad view of the case. ‘I only knew one
woman who was really ‘strong-minded’, as they call it,’ he
said, ‘and she was a regular bad one.’
‘It does not follow that she should be bad,’ said I.
‘This one was, though—stock, lock, and barrel. But as
sharp as a needle, sir, and as immovable as a rock. A fine
woman, too.’ I saw by the expression of the man’s face that
he owned ugly memories, and pressed him further. ‘She’s

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