Jane hesitated--dared. ``To be quite frank,'' said she, ``I
worship success and I despise failure. Success means strength.
Failure means weakness--and I abominate weakness.''

He looked quietly disapproving. ``You don't mean that. You
don't understand what you're saying.''

``Perfectly,'' she assured him. ``I'm not a bit good. Education
has taken all the namby-pamby nonsense out of me.''

But he was not really hearing; besides, what had women to do with
the realities of life? They were made to be the property of
men--that was the truth, though he would never have confessed it
to any woman. They were made to be possessed. ``And I must
possess this woman,'' he thought, his blood running hot. He
said:

``Why not help me to make a career? I can do it, Jen, with you
to help.''

She had thought of this before--of making a career for herself,
of doing the ``something'' her intense energy craved, through a
man. The ``something'' must be big if it were to satisfy her;
and what that was big could a woman do except through a man?
But--this man. Her eyes turned thoughtfully upon him--a look
that encouraged him to go on:

``Politics interest you, Jen. I've seen that in the way you
listen and in the questions you ask.''