"What do you think of her?"
Dare became deliberately mixed over the pronoun, and replied with a very
direct description of what he thought of Standish.
He told him that he was confusing his conception of the soul with Fay's
conviction of the body. He scoffed at the concerts and lectures. He
pointed out that the politic Fay suffered them because she had
imagination. "You are endeavouring to combine the instincts of a
lothario with the soul of a calvinist," Dare had said in conclusion.
The two men parted with their friendship considerably shaken. Dare saw
no particular objection to Standish making an ass of himself over any
girl he chose; but he could not digest the missionary spirit in which
Standish chose to view the whole adventure.
At last Standish went a step too far and told his wife all about it,
requesting her to ask the unspeakable Fay to call. This platonic
request was very naturally refused, and Standish made a fool of himself,
said that Fay was one of Nature's ladies, and, given the right clothes
and environment, she would be an astonishing success.
Dare learned the story from both of them, and told Standish that such
bloods as he were wanted in sparsely populated colonies. The upshot was
a breach between the two.
Millie Standish took it all rather badly. She talked about leaving her
husband, and there was a quiet determined look in her eyes that Dare did
not like: it seemed to suggest the possibility of leaving the world as
well. Dare talked about brain-storm and other alien things, and patched
things up for the time being.
At last Dare determined that shock tactics were necessary to bring
Standish to his senses, and here his chivalry asserted itself. Millie
Standish had no brother, therefore Dare felt it incumbent upon him to
assume the fraternal responsibility of correcting Standish's rather
Eastern views of life.