THE HARLOT
113
morality
aside with skirt and
shirt when opportunity
should offer.
When
Percy fell in love with Molly , we saw how
Lady
Angela
enticed him
from
her by her maturer
wisdom .
Utterly
false, the social hag of sixty totally
eclipses the girl of sixteen ; she backs
her knowledge
against
the latter's
innocence , and wins
in
a canter .
So much for morality .
A woman is only as old as she feels ; and grey hairs
do
not count
so long
as they can
be counted ; such
was the innocence of our early Victorian
grandmothers .
Nowadays
a woman is as young in manner as
she is
old
in years ; and as for hair
ask
the
coiffeurs .
As
cats
grow
cantankerous
in
old age ,
so
do
women ,
and Angela
is
a good
example of one
of the
many
vicious , crafty, and crabbed old vixens who monopolize
society .
When
she
hears
Percy
murmur
words
of
love to Molly , she hisses :
Ah ! if there were a devil to buy souls,
Or if I had not sold mine ! Quick bargain , God !
Hell catch the jade ! Blister her fat red cheeks !
Rot her snub
nose ! Poison devour her guts !
Wither
her fresh clean face with old grey scabs,
And venomous
ulcers gnaw the baby breasts ! ?
Most charitable !
But such is the Kingdom
of Society .
“ Angela ” is a lovely name
(so thinks inexperienced
Percy ) , and correspondingly
the
owner
must have a
lovely nature ; and when he has discovered what
an
abyss yawns between
“ girl ” and
“ village
girl ”
he
throws himself into the arms of the lovely Angela and
listens to her murmuring
sighs as she stumbles :
Ay , love, it is to feel your strength support me !
( Aside .
Will the doctors never
catch up with the coiffeurs ? 2
1
3 Ibid . vol.
iii
,
p
.
35
.
Why Jesus Wept
,
vol
.
iii,
p
.
30
.
1