I had no need to journey so far; and this
makes me inclined to think that, in our search, we need to be attentive
even more than active!"

Roseline murmured, pensively:

"The men say that a certain amount of preliminary experience in love is
indispensable ... to them."

My whole soul revolted. Releasing myself from the girl's embrace, I
sprang to my feet and faced her:

"But, Rose, isn't it the same with us? And is it right to expect that a
woman should rivet her whole existence to the first smile, to the first
look, the first word that moves her? Sensible people tell us that
marriage is a lottery! By what aberration of the intellect do they come
to admit that a being's whole life should be voluntarily subjected to
chance? Not one of us would consent to such a degradation, if women in
general were not absolutely ignorant! And that is why many, too
clear-sighted to submit to a ridiculous law and lacking the courage to
infringe it, die without having known the flavour and the goodness of
life. Oh, what injustice! Is youth not short enough as it is? Is the
circle in which our poor intelligence moves not sufficiently limited?
And is it necessary, in addition, to chain us to phantom principles,
which falsify nature, disfigure goodness and vilify the miracle of the
kiss and the innocence of the flesh?"

I was standing against a tree, a few steps away from Rose; and my hand
plucked nervously at the leaves within my reach. The blue sky seemed
hypocritical to my eyes, the beauty of the flowers crafty and mocking. I
continued, in a tone of conviction:

"It is right that woman should make her own experiments, it is right
that she should know men to judge which of them harmonises with her....
It is by constantly encountering alien souls that she will form an idea
of what her twin soul should be. Yes, I know that a natural law rejects
this morality; and that is why I do not think the woman should give
herself until she is quite certain of her choice. It is true that her
experiments will be incomplete; the senses will have played but a small
part in them, or none at all; but must we not accommodate ourselves to
the inevitable? In any case, that woman will indeed be enlightened who,
regardless of public opinion, lives freely in the man's company,
studying him, observing him and sometimes even loving him!"

Rose listened to me without a word or a movement; only, every now and
then, her long, dark lashes, tipped with gold, woul