n her--or in her possessions--makes her appear worth the
giving up of his liberty. So she owes him just as much as the thing he
took her for. If for her money, and she knows it is for that, and she
has been sufficiently humble to accept him on those terms--she owes
him money. If for love--she owes him at least the outside observances
of love. If he has pretended love and it is for some other motive, his
Nemesis will fall upon himself in the disillusion and contempt he will
inspire. But in all cases the woman, through want of intelligence or
pure misfortune, has crossed the Rubicon with him; she has allowed him
to teach her the meaning of dual life--she has put it into his power
with her to create future lives. She cannot, for any price or any
prayers, recross that fatal stream. So for all reasons of common
sense--and above all, sense of responsibility to the community--she
had better make the best of her bargain.

Likewise, man should pause and think, Is it merely because I cannot
obtain this woman upon any other terms that I am offering her
marriage? Have I respect for her? Do I think she will bring happiness
into my house as well as pleasure to my body? Is she suited to my
brain capacity when I am not exalted by physical emotion? Am I going
to curb my selfishness and behave decently towards her?

If he cannot answer these questions satisfactorily he may know that he
is undertaking a hundred-to-one chance of peace and happiness. But if
the physical desire is stronger than all these considerations, then he
must _know and realise_ that whatever happens _he must never blame the
woman_. He has succumbed to the most material and alas! the most
hideously strong force in nature--not because the woman tempted him,
as it has been the fashion for man to say since the days of Adam--but
because there is something in himself which is so weak that it cannot
listen to the promptings of the spirit when the body calls.

In each and every case it is a man's duty to be kind and courteous to
a woman who is his wife. He has made her so by his free vows before
God (because no one can be forced to the altar against his absolute
will in these days), or he has made her so by vows and business
agreement, according to the laws of his country, before the Registrar.
In either case he has made her his legal wife and the possible mother
of his children--units unborn who can affect the welfare of his
country. He has, then, his great duties towards