It is as if one were asked one's favourite food.
There are times when one fancies an egg with one's tea. On other
occasions one dreams of a kipper. Today one clamours for lobsters.
To-morrow one feels one never wishes to see a lobster again; one
determines to settle down, for a time, to a diet of bread and milk
and rice-pudding. Asked suddenly to say whether I preferred ices to
soup, or beefsteaks to caviare, I should be nonplussed.
I like tall women and short, dark women and fair, merry women and
grave.
Do not blame me, Ladies, the fault lies with you. Every
right-thinking man is an universal lover; how could it be otherwise?
You are so diverse, yet each so charming of your kind; and a man's
heart is large. You have no idea, fair Reader, how large a man's
heart is: that is his trouble--sometimes yours.
May I not admire the daring tulip, because I love also the modest
lily? May I not press a kiss upon the sweet violet, because the
scent of the queenly rose is precious to me?
"Certainly not," I hear the Rose reply. "If you can see anything in
her, you shall have nothing to do with me."
"If you care for that bold creature," says the Lily, trembling, "you
are not the man I took you for.
Pages:
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91