itself, caused his friend to reply with dignity:

"There's a lot of nonsense talked about that sort of thing. Women don't
really care; it's only what's put into their heads."

"That's much the same as saying to a starving man: 'You don't really
want anything; it's only what's put into your head!' You are begging the
question, my friend."

But nothing was more calculated to annoy Halidome than to tell him he
was "begging the question," for he prided himself on being strong in
logic.

"That be d---d," he said.

"Not at all, old chap. Here is a case where a woman wants her freedom,
and you merely answer that she dogs n't want it."

"Women like that are impossible; better leave them out of court."

Shelton pondered this and smiled; he had recollected an acquaintance of
his own, who, when his wife had left him, invented the theory that she
was mad, and this struck him now as funny. But then he thought:
"Poor devil! he was bound to call her mad! If he didn't, it would be
confessing himself distasteful; however true, you can't expect a man to
consider himself that." But a glance at his friend's eye warned him that
he, too, might think his wife mad in such a case.

"Surely," he said, "even if she's his wife, a man's bound to behave like
a gentleman."