" Queen Isabella and her jewels!
In this letter she told me of a talk she had had with her husband on
the "woman-problem." She had thought at first that it was going to
prove a helpful talk--he had been in a fairer mood than she was
usually able to induce. "He evaded some of my questions," she
explained, "but I don't think it was deliberate; it is simply the
evasive attitude of mind which the whole world takes. He says he
does not think that women are inferior to men, only that they are
different; the mistake is for them to try to become _like_ men. It
is the old proposition of 'charm,' you see. I put that to him, and
he admitted that he did like to be 'charmed.'
"I said, 'You wouldn't, if you knew as much about the process as I
do.'
"'Why not?' he asked.
"'Because, it's not an honest process. It's not a straight way for
one sex to deal with the other.'
"He asked what I meant by that; but then, remembering the cautions
of my great-aunt, I laughed. 'If you are going to compel me to use
the process, you can hardly expect me to tell you the secret of it.'
"'Then there's no use trying to talk,' he said.
"'Ah, but there is!' I exclaimed.
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