"It has been a great fact in the history of your sex," he said,
looking across at her, with a shake of his head, as though she did
not appreciate the subject, "that idea that everything in the
universe was made for Man."

"Why?" inquired Gabriella, resigning herself to the perilous and
the irresistible.

"Well, in old times it led men to think that since everything else
belonged to them, so did woman: therefore when they wanted her they
did not ask for her; they took her."

"It is much better arranged at present, whatever the reason."

"Now a man cannot always get one, even when he asks for her," and
David turned red again and knotted his hands.

"I am so glad the schoolhouse was not damaged by the storm,"
observed Gabriella, reflecting.

David fell into a revery but presently awoke.

"There are more men than women in the world. On an average, that is
only a fraction of a woman to every man. Still the men cannot take
care of them. But it ought to be a real pleasure to every man to
take care of an entire woman."

"Did you ever notice the hands in that portrait?"

David glanced at the portrait without noticing it, and went his