"But the rotten whiners, they're all grovelling before a baby's napkin and a woman's petticoat." "It's a fact," said Aaron.

But he glanced at Lilly oddly, as if suspiciously.

And Lilly caught the look.

But he continued: "And if they think you try to stand on your legs and walk with the feet of manhood, why, there isn't a blooming father and lover among them but will do his best to get you down and suffocate you--either with a baby's napkin or a woman's petticoat." Lilly's lips were curling; he was dark and bitter.
"Ay, it is like that," said Aaron, rather subduedly.
"The man's spirit has gone out of the world.

Men can't move an inch unless they can grovel humbly at the end of the journey." "No," said Aaron, watching with keen, half-amused eyes.
"That's why marriage wants readjusting--or extending--to get men on to their own legs once more, and to give them the adventure again.