"Certainly not." She added in modification: "That is if you like
it."

"Well, supposing I don't like it?"

She did not reply for a minute or two. Then: "If you really don't
like it, I should be rather glad."

"Why?" asked Paul.

She raised a piteous face.

"Yes, tell me," he insisted. "Tell me why you agree with that cad
Higgins?"

"I don't agree with him."

"You must."

They fenced for a while. At last he pinned her down.

"Well, if you want to know," she declared, with a flushed cheek, "I
don't think it's a man's job."

He bit his lip. He had asked for the truth and he had got it. His
own dark suspicions were confirmed. Jane glanced at him fearful of
offence. When they had walked some yards he spoke. "What would you
call a man's job?"

Jane hesitated for an answer. Her life had been passed in a sphere