Wherefore am I wedded only to my fancies, content that my days should not be subjected to the strain of trying to be all things to one woman, preferring as I do to remain one thing to all women instead—their devoted admirer and willing slave." "Well, to come back to the Immortals," said the Doctor. "You don't really think, do you, that we have any women Immortals?" "Of course, I do," replied the Idiot. "The world is full of them, and always has been."[Pg 39] [Pg 39] Mr. Brief, the lawyer, tapped his forehead significantly. "I'm afraid that screw has come loose again, Doctor," he said. "Looks that way," said the Doctor, "but we'll tighten it up again in a jiffy." He paused a moment, and then resumed. "Well, Mr. Idiot," he said, "of course our ideas may differ on the subject of what makes an Immortal. Now, I should say that it is by their fruits that ye shall know them." "A highly original remark," observed the Idiot, with a grin. "That aside," said the Doctor, coolly, "let's take up, for purposes of discussion, a few standards. In music, Wagner was an Immortal, and produced his great trilogy. In poetry, Milton was an Immortal, and produced 'Paradise Lost.' In the drama, Shakespeare[Pg 40] was an Immortal, and produced 'Hamlet', and, coming down to our own time, let us grant the obvious fact that Edison is headed toward immortality because of his wizardry in electricity." [Pg 40] "Sure thing!" said the Idiot. "It is good to have you grant all I say so readily," said the Doctor. "Now then—let me ask you where in all history you find four women who in the matter of their achievement, in the demonstrated fruits of their labors, even measurably approached any one of these four I have mentioned?" "Why, Doctor," grinned the Idiot, "why ask me to steal candy from a baby? Why suggest that I try to drive a tack with a sledgehammer, or cut a mold of currant jelly with the whirring teeth of a buzz saw—" "Sparring for time as usual," cried the Doctor triumphantly. "You can't name one, and are simply trying to[Pg
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