Free Tiffany Girl by Deeanne Gist Page B

instead?”
    Miss Jayne gave him a tolerant smile. “Nonsense. Anyone who writes the kind of articles you do would, I feel sure, be able to briefly sum up what he feels our society could do to better itself.”
    He stared at her. She had read them. He shifted in his chair again. “My favorite season is winter.”
    She lifted a brow. “Scared to answer the question?”
    “Certainly not.” He was tired of this game. Tired of all the chatter. Tired of sitting in a different seat when everyone knew his chair was the more comfortable one Mr. Nettels now occupied. “I’m simply finished with my meal and have a deadline to meet. So, I’m afraid—”
    Again, young Mrs. Holliday’s face began to crumple. Death and the deuce. If he didn’t answer the blasted question, she’d take it personally.
    Heaving a sigh, he pulled his napkin from his lap and set it on the table. “If I were to change one thing in society, I’d put a stop to the crusade of today’s New Woman who wishes to break with conventions of the past and trample all tradition underfoot.”
    He slid back his chair. “The reason her pursuit of economic independence is so serious is because the place she currently occupies in society is vitally important. Any change to it would result in enormous consequences to every individual and even to the entire human race.”
    Standing, he grasped the top rail of his chair. It wobbled in his hands. “As much as she wishes it, she cannot simply rush off with a conceited notion that all the teachings of human history can be easily reversed, and society cannot suddenly be turned into a social and economic paradise by the application of some simple formula she’s concocted.”
    Miss Jayne’s lips parted.
    He should stop. This wasn’t exactly appropriate dinner conversation. And it wasn’t as if he could actually change society. Still, the entire situation fired his fear and his anger and he found himself unable to stem the flow of words. “It is man, not woman, who throughout the centuries has battled with the forces of nature and subdued them to his will. It is he who swept away the jungle and the forest, who made the desert blossom like a rose, who reared great cities and created states and founded empires. It is he who flecked the ocean with his fleets, who girdled the earth with the cincture of civilization, who united humanity into one great brotherhood, and who established law and evolved the sciences.”
    Pushing in his chair, he straightened his spine. “If woman has it in herself to do the work of man, which he has fearlessly performed for unnumbered centuries, then why didn’t Eve choose to live her life apart from Adam from the very beginning? Why didn’t she treat him on equal terms? Become his rival?” He flattened his lips. “I’ll tell you why. Because giving woman economic independence would breed mistrust and jealousy between her and man. It would corrode the very foundations every society in the world is built upon. Ourfuture as a human race depends upon her keeping her life joined to his in a spirit of trust and reverence and affection. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”
    Spinning, he stalked from the room, leaving total silence in his wake.

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“ ‘I’ve no desire to condemn women to imprisonment in greasy kitchens, forever debarring them from intellectual growth. It’s their best interests I have at heart. Theirs and their children’s.’ ”

CHAPTER
    12

    F lossie held herself perfectly still at the open doorway of Mr. Wilder’s room. The patter of rain outside and the hall’s worn carpet runner had covered her approach. His back was slightly turned, for he was sitting on the end of his bed, his body angled toward the window. The precipitation had stirred the ever-present slime in the city’s streets, tainting the room with its subtle odor.
    She took advantage of the unguarded moment to study him. Jacketless, his white shirt