“Oh, how frustrating,” she said, “to keep a woman’s wages low to soothe a man’s vanity.” “It’s not just vanity,” he murmured. “Cruelty, then.” “For some it’s that. Mostly, though, it’s pride—” “Pride!” she cried. “What is there to be proud about?” “Very well, a fragility, then, masking as pride,” he said grimly. “The sort you have when you have little else.”
