"The world would be a very nice tiresome place to live in," she said, "if
every one always did exactly what is absolutely right. I should not like
to live among people who would be always so entirely padded and lined with
goodness as they must be in your ideal republic."
"It is a favorite and characteristic notion of modern society to associate
goodness with dullness, and consequently, I suppose, to connect badness
with all that is gay, interesting, and diverting. There is nothing more
perverted, absurd, and contemptible than that notion in the whole history
of the world."
John was not gentle with an idea when he despised it, and the adjectives
fell in his clear utterance like the blows of a sledge-hammer. But as the
idea he was abusing had been suggested by Joe, she resented the strong
language.
"I am flattered that you should call anything I say by such bad names,"
she said. "I am not good at arguing and that sort of thing. If I were I
think I could answer you very easily.
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