第34章

“Sometimes——sometimesIthinkheis——inourblood。InMINE。”

Heregardedmeformyopinionveryearnestly，withhispipeinthecornerofhismouth。

“You’retheremotestcousinheeverhad。”Isaid。

Ireflected。“Lookhere，Ewart。”Iasked，“howwouldyouhavethingsdifferent？”

Hewrinkleduphisqueerface，regardedthewaitandmadehispipegurgleforaspace，thinkingdeeply。

“Therearecomplications，Iadmit。We’vegrownupundertheterrorofGrundyandthatinnocentbutdocileand——yes——formidablelady，hiswife。Idon’tknowhowfarthecomplicationsaren’tadisease，asortofbleachingundertheGrundyshadow。ItispossibletherearethingsIhavestilltolearnaboutwomen。ManhaseatenoftheTreeofKnowledge。

Hisinnocenceisgone。Youcan’thaveyourcakeandeatit。

We’reinforknowledge；let’shaveitplainandstraight。I

shouldbegin，Ithink，byabolishingtheideasofdecencyandindecency。”

“Grundywouldhavefits！”Iinjected。

“Grundy，Ponderevo，wouldhavecolddouches——publicly——ifthesightwasnottoopainful——threetimesaday。ButIdon’tthink，mindyou，thatIshouldletthesexesrunabouttogether。

No。Thefactbehindthesexes——issex。It’snogoodhumbugging。

Ittrailsabout——eveninthebestmixedcompany。Tugsatyourankle。Themengetshowingoffandquarrelling——andthewomen。

Orthey’rebored。Isupposetheancestralmaleshavecompetedfortheancestralfemaleseversincetheywerebothsomesortofgrubbylittlereptile。Youaren’tgoingtoalterthatinathousandyearsorso。Nevershouldyouhaveamixedcompany，never——exceptwithonlyonemanoronlyonewoman。Howwouldthatbe？。

“Orduetsonly？。

“Howtomanageit？Someruleofetiquette，perhaps。”。Hebecameportentouslygrave。

Thenhislonghandwentoutinweirdgestures。

“Iseemtosee——Iseemtosee——asortofCityofWomen，Ponderevo。Yes。Awalledenclosure——goodstone-mason’swork——acitywall，highasthewallsofRome，goingaboutagarden。Dozensofsquaremilesofgarden——trees——fountains——

arbours——lakes。Lawnsonwhichthewomenplay，avenuesinwhichtheygossip，boats。Womenlikethatsortofthing。Anywomanwho’sbeentoagoodeventfulgirls’schoollivesonthememoryofitfortherestofherlife。It’soneofthepatheticthingsaboutwomen——thesuperiorityofschoolandcollege——toanythingtheygetafterwards。Andthiscity-gardenofwomenwillhavebeautifulplacesformusic，placesforbeautifuldresses，placesforbeautifulwork。Everythingawomancanwant。Nurseries。

Kindergartens。Schools。Andnoman——excepttodoroughwork，perhaps——evercomesin。Themenliveinaworldwheretheycanhuntandengineer，inventandmineandmanufacture，sailships，drinkdeepandpracticethearts，andfight——“

“Yes。”Isaid，“but——“

Hestilledmewithagesture。

“I’mcomingtothat。Thehomesofthewomen，Ponderevo，willbesetinthewalloftheircity；eachwomanwillhave