" While she strove to think clearly, to form
some plan, she let her young sister talk rapidly on:
"I know you are! And you can't be fair! You're like nearly all American
women--married or single, young or old--you're all of you scared to death
about sex--just as your Puritan mothers were! And you leave it alone--you
keep it down--you never give it a chance--you're afraid! But I'm not
afraid--and I'm living my life! And let me tell you I'm not alone! There
are hundreds and thousands doing the same--right here in New York City
to-night! It's been so abroad for years and years--in Rome and Berlin, in
Paris and London--and now, thank God, it has come over here! If our
husbands can do it, why can't we? And we are--we're starting--it's come
with the war! You think war is hell and nothing else, don't you--but you're
wrong! It's not only killing men--it's killing a lot of hypocrisies
too--it's giving a jolt to marriage! You'll see what the women will do soon
enough--when there aren't enough men any longer--"
"Suppose you stop this tirade and tell me exactly what you've done,"
Deborah interrupted. A simple course of action had just flashed into her
mind.
"All right, I will. I'm not ashamed. I've given you this 'tirade' to show
you exactly how I feel--that it's not any question of sin or guilt or any
musty old rubbish like that! I know I'm right! I know just what I'm doing!"
"Who's the man? That Italian?"
"Yes.
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