Mrs. Vanderdecken,’ Sylvia went on, ‘says all men are repulsive and it’s woman’s disgusting task to live beside them.

That's all right! That's all right!' But for a minute or two it wasn't really. All feminine claws, he said to himself, are sheathed in velvet; but they can hurt a good deal if they touch you on the sore places of the defects of your qualities - even merely with the velvet. He added: 'Your mother works you very hard.

But decent augurs grin behind their masks. They never preach to each other.