"Tell me," said I, "why you have sat for more than an hour with your
eyes fixed on nothing, and your hands punching your lap?"
She looked at me for a fleeting instant, and then, looking away again,
she began to speak.--Her voice was pleasant enough, but it was so
strong that one fancied there were bones in it--
"I do not dislike women," said she, "but I think they seldom speak of
anything worth listening to, nor do they often do anything worth
looking at: they bore and depress me, and men do not."
"But," said I, "you have not explained why you thump your lap with your
fist?"