your share of the bargain, and
handsomely. If you don't marry, and marry fifty miles above you, you'll be
very silly. For you to stop here is an outrage against commonsense. It's
merely monstrous. If I wasn't an old man I wouldn't tell you this,
naturally. Now you needn't blush. I expect I'm not far off thirty years
older than you--and you're young enough to be wise in time.'"

=iii=

It will be seen that _Lilian_ has all the philosophy and humour which make
_Mr. Prohack_ a joy forever, and in addition the new novel has the strong
interest we feel in a young, beautiful, attractive, helpless girl, who has
her way to make in the world. And yet, I love _Mr. Prohack_. I think I
have by heart some of the wisdom he utters; for instance--

On women: "Even the finest and most agreeable women, such as those with
whom I have been careful to surround myself in my domestic existence, are
monsters of cruelty."

On women's clubs: "You scarcely ever speak to a soul in your club. The
food's bad in your club. They drink liqueurs before dinner at your club.
I've seen 'em. Your club's full every night of the most formidable
spinsters each eating at a table alone. Give up your club by all means.
Set fire to it and burn it down. But don't count the act as a
renunciation. You hate your club."

On his wife: "You may annoy me. You may exasperate me. You are frequently
unspeakable. But you have never made me unhappy. And why? Because I am one
of the few exponents of romantic passion left in this city. My passion for
you transcends my reason. I am a fool, but I am a magnificent fool. And
the greatest miracle of modern times is that after twenty-four years of
marriage you should be able to give me pleasure by perching your stout
body on the arm of my chair as you are doing."

On his daughter: "In 1917 I saw that girl in dirty overalls driving a
thundering great van down Whitehall. Yesterday I met her in her foolish
high heels and her shocking openwork stockings and her negligible dress
and her exposed throat and her fur stole, and she was so delicious and so
absurd and so futile and so sure of her power that--that--well ... that
chit has the right to ruin me--not because of anything she's done, but
because she is."

On kissing: "That fellow has kissed my daughter and he has kissed her for
the first time. It is monstrous that any girl, and especially my daughter,
should be kissed for the first time.... It amounts to an outrage."

On pare