stray, instead of an easy prey to it.
For, as it is, there is a recognised unwritten law among most men that
honour must always be kept with "the other woman," but that it is not
necessary with a wife. A man's honour towards a woman is only certain
of holding with his inclinations--that is: A married to B will be
unfaithful to her with C--which is technically dishonour. He will not
consider that, but will tell any lie to protect C and stick to her,
because his sense of honour has gone with his inclination. He feels he
must "never give away C to B," although he experiences no qualm in
having already tacitly "given away" B to C, by his very part of taking
C for his mistress. B is also a woman, but only his wife! He has not
been the least aware of it, but his sense of honour has followed his
inclination, in a way it would never do over a business arrangement
with another man. To give a parallel case in a business arrangement: A
makes a bargain with B that he will deal with him alone; he then finds
he likes the goods of C better than those of B--but no honest
tradesman would think of breaking his contract even secretly with B
and dealing with C, for, if he did, he would know himself that he was
dishonest, and that all his fellows who knew he had done this thing
would despise and ostracise him. But a man when deceiving his wife not
only generally feels no shame himself, but knows his male friends will
probably not think the worse of him for it. There is not the slightest
use in arguing about these facts, any more than, as I said in my first
paper upon marriage, there is in arguing about fundamental instincts,
and it would be well for women to realise this elastic, unwritten law
of honour in men towards them, and so not expect, at the present state
of man's evolution, that they will receive anything different. They
must never forget that this adjustable sense of honour springs from
the same fundamental male instinct we spoke of--and therefore cannot
be turned round by women and applied to their own cases, because the
same instincts do not come into force with them. Woman must always
remember that _man is conquering primitive nature in being faithful to
her at all_, and therefore she ought, if she desires that he shall be
so, to look to her own every point of attraction to make it possible
(if not easy!) for him to fulfil her desire. I must reiterate again
that it is wiser to remember that it is civilisation alone
(civilisatio