“Why don’t men and women really like one another nowadays?” Connie asked Tommy Dukes, who was more or less her oracle.
“Oh, but they do! I don’t think since the human species was invented, there has ever been a time when men and women have liked one another as much as they do today. Genuine liking! Take myself … I really like women better than men; they are braver, one can be more frank with them.”
Connie pondered this.
“Ah, yes, but you never have anything to do with them!” she said.
“I? What am I doing but talking perfectly sincerely to a woman at this moment?”
“Yes, talking. …”
“And what more could I do if you were a man, than talk perfectly sincerely to you?”
“Nothing perhaps. But a woman. …”
“A woman wants you to like her and talk to her, and at the same time love her and desire her; and it seems to me the two things are mutually exclusive.”
“But they shouldn’t be!”
“No doubt water ought not to be so wet as it is; it overdoes it in wetness. But there it is! I like women and talk to them, and therefore I don’t love