on't believe in themselves.

"Take Palla. She says there is no God--no divinity except in herself.
And I tell you she may think she believes it, but she doesn't.

"And her school-girl creed--Love and Service! Fine. Only there's a
prior law--self-preservation; and another--race preservation! By God,
how are you going to love and serve if girls stop having babies?

"And as for this silly condemnation of the marriage ceremony, merely
because some sanctified Uncle Foozle once inserted the word 'obey' in
it--just because, under the marriage laws, tyranny and cruelty have
been practised--what callow rot!

"Laws can be changed; divorce made simple and non-scandalous as it
should be; all rights safeguarded for the woman; and still have
something legal and recognised by one of those necessary conventions
which make civilisation possible.

"But this irresponsible idea of procedure through mere inclination--this
sauntering through life under no law to safeguard and govern, except
the law of personal preference--that's anarchy! That code spells
demoralisation, degeneracy and disaster!... And the whole damned
thing to begin again--a slow development of the human race, once more,
out of the chaos of utter barbarism."

Estridge, standing there on the sidewalk in the fog, smiled:

"You're very eloquent, Jim. Why don't you say all this to Palla?"

"I did. I told her, too, that the root of the whole thing was
selfishness. And it is. It's a refusal to play the game according to
rule. There are only two sexes and one of 'em is fashioned to bear
young, and the other is fashioned to hustle for mother and kid. You
can't alter that, whether it's fair or not. It's the game as we found
it. The rules were already provided for playing it. The legal father
and mother are supposed to look out for their own legal progeny. And
any alteration of this rule, with a view to irresponsible mating and
turning the offspring over to the community to take care of, would
create an unhuman race, unconscious of the highest form of love--the
love for parents.

"A fine lot we'd be as an incubated race!"

Estridge laughed: "I've got to go," he said, "And, if you care for
Palla as you say you do, you oughtn't to leave her entirely alone with
her circle of modernist friends. Stick around! It may make you mad,
but if she likes you, at least she won't commit an indiscretion with
anybody else."

"I wish I could find my own sort as amusing," said Jim, naively.