Husbands & Lovers

by Beatriz Williams

“You men,” she said. “You’re so quick to judge a woman who marries for money. But men are the same. A different kind of treasure, that’s all.”

“Men fall over themselves for a beautiful woman, women fall over themselves for a rich man. So who’s the more greedy? At least money is useful. And it doesn’t fade with time.”

“Of course it is. Every exchange between human beings is a bargain of some kind. Actual treasure or moral treasure, it’s all the same. You agree on your price and make the transaction.”

Anyway, there are two types of gardener, in my experience—the kind that goes for the showy blooms, that knows all these tricks for making them grow the biggest and brightest, in nice orderly rows. Hires in experts, does expensive interventions. And there’s the kind that sort of throws in the seeds in a nice sunny spot and waters and feeds them and watches what happens. You do see what I’m saying, don’t you?”

It’s a funny thing about human nature. Once you break the rules, it’s so much easier to break them again.