"You shall see it all in print one day," he said complacently.
"There is something in it, but all women are not alike; there is a difference even if it be only a difference in degree."
"Certainly, but what I have said applies to a certain extent to all of you, and do you know why? Because the principal thing to all of you is a man—one you have or one you miss. The only thing in life which is serious and worth anything—I mean work—is never a serious thing to you. To the best of you it is so for a short time, and I believe it is because you are sure when you are young and pretty that 'he' will come along. But as time goes and he does not turn up, and you get on in years, you get slack and weary and dissatisfied."
Jenny nodded.
"Look here, Jenny. I have always placed you on the same level as a first-class man. You will soon be twenty-nine, and that is about the right age to begin independent work. You don't mean to say that now, when you should begin your individual life in earnest, you wish to encumber yourself with husband, children, housekeeping, and all those things which would only be so many ties and a hindrance in your work?"
Jenny laughed softly.
"If you had all those things and were going to die, surrounded by husband and kiddies and all that, and you felt you had not attained what you knew you might have done, don't you think you would repent and regret? I am sure you would."
"Yes, but if I had reached the farthest goal of my abilities and I knew, when dying, that my life and my work would live a long time after I had gone—and I were alone, with no living soul belonging to me, don't you think I should regret and repent then too?"
Heggen was silent a moment.
