"There are such women."
"Perhaps there are. But, my dear Isaacson, one has only to look at Mrs. Chepstow--with unprejudiced eyes, mind you--to see that she could never be one of them. Even if I had never spoken to her, I should know that she must have ideals, could never not have them, whatever her life is, or has been. Physiognomy cannot utterly lie. Look at the line of that face. Don't you see what I mean?"
They both gazed for a moment at the lonely woman.
"There is, of course, a certain beauty in Mrs. Chepstow's face," the Doctor said.
"I am not speaking of beauty; I am speaking of ideality, of purity. Don't you see what I mean? Now, be honest."
"Yes, I do."
"Ah!" said Armine.
The exclamation sounded warmly pleased.
"But that look, I think, is a question merely of line, and of the way the hair grows. Do you mean to say that you would rather judge a woman by that than by the actions of her life?"
"No. But I do say that if you examined the life of a woman with a face like that--the real life--you would be certain to find that it had not been devoid of actions such as you would expect, actions illustrating that look of ideality which any one can see. What does Mrs. Derringham really know of Mrs. Chepstow? She is not personally acquainted with her, even. She acknowledged that. She has never spoken to her, and doesn't want to."
"That scarcely surprises me, I confess," the Doctor remarked.
There was a definite dryness in his tone, and Armine noticed it.
"You are prejudiced, I see," he said.
In his voice there was a sound of disappointment.
"I don't exactly know why, but I have always looked upon you as one of the most fair-minded, broad-minded men I have met, Isaacson," he said. "Not as one of those who must always hunt with the hounds."
"The question is, What is prejudice? The facts of a life are facts, and cannot leave one wholly uninfluenced for or against the liver of the life. If I see a man beating a dog because it has licked his hand, I draw the inference that he is cruel. Would you say that I am narrow-minded in doing so? If one does not judge men and women by their actions, by what is one to judge them? Perhaps you will say, 'Don't judge them at all.' But it is impossible not to form opinions on people, and every time one forms an opinion one passes a secret judgment. Isn't it so?"