“When I was a boy, I always had an ambition to excel all the other boys. I wanted to be the best baseball player on the block⁠—and I was, too. I could pitch three curves when I was fifteen, and I find I am the same now that I am a man grown. When I do a thing, I want to do it better than anyone else. From the very first I have always been ambitious. It is my strongest trait. Now,” he went on, turning to Page, “your strongest trait is your thoughtfulness. You are what they call introspective.”

“Yes, yes,” she answered. “Yes, I think so, too.”

“You don’t need the stimulation of competition. You are at your best when you are with just one person. A crowd doesn’t interest you.”

“I hate it,” she exclaimed.

“Now with me, with a man of my temperament, a crowd is a real inspiration. When everyone is talking and shouting around me, or to me, even, my mind works at its best. But,” he added, solemnly, “it must be a crowd of men. I can’t abide a crowd of women.”