Nevertheless I felt justified in keeping silence and even in listening to their conversation.
"You didn't mean it," I heard Jerry ask, "about all those girls' mothers, did you?"
"Of course I did. You're a catch, you know."
"You mean, they want to catch _me_? Nonsense. I don't believe you."
"If that's the way marriage is made I don't think much of it."
"It isn't always like that." She smiled. "People aren't all as rich as you are."
"It's queer," he said after a pause. "I've never thought of myself as being different from other people. If money makes one man more desirable than another then money sets false standards of judgment. The people here I like for what they are, not for what they have. That's all wrong somehow, Una. It makes me think crooked."
"I suppose I'm talking too much. You don't have to believe what I say," she said slowly.
"But I want to know and I want you to talk. You've stirred something deep in me. You somehow make me think I've been looking at everything sideways without being able to walk around it. Roger knows what he's about, of course, and I suppose he has reasons of his own, but I'm a not a child any longer. And if he does not care to tell me the whole truth, I've got to find out things for myself from somebody else." And then, turning upon her suddenly: "You aren't lying to me, are you?"
"No, I don't. But I thought you might say queer things, just as a joke."
She shook her head. "No," she said calmly. "I laughed a little at first, because I didn't understand, but I'm quite serious now."
"You said Roger was a fossil. I know what a fossil is. That wasn't kind."
"But it's true," she repeated warmly. "He might keep things from you, but he has no right to misrepresent women."
"Why shouldn't they be? I think they're finer. Your Roger wouldn't agree with me. I've told you the kind of things they do--that men can't and won't do. You may believe me or not as you choose. Some day you'll find out."
"But I want to find out now. I want to find out everything."
"That's a great deal, isn't it?" she said.
"You see, I don't want you to think I'm an idiot and I don't want you to think Roger is narrow-minded. If you only knew him--"
"I'm sure he has a long nose, sandy hair, grayish? watery eyes and spectacles."