Book Two The Woman - Chapter 3 Which Bears Ample Testimony to the Strength of the Gentleman's Fists

Considering all that had befallen during the last half-hour or
so, it was not very surprising, I think, that I should have
forgotten the very existence of this woman Charmian, even though
she had been chiefly instrumental in bringing it all about, and
to have her recalled to my recollection thus suddenly (and,
moreover, the possibility that I must meet with and talk to her)
perturbed me greatly, and I remained, for some time, quite
oblivious to wind and rain, all engrossed by the thought of this
woman.

"A dark, fierce, Amazonian creature!" I told myself, who had
(abhorrent thought) already attempted one man's life to-night;
furthermore, a tall woman, and strong (therefore unmaidenly),
with eyes that gleamed wild in the shadow of her hair. And yet
my dismay arose not so much from any of these as from the fact
that she was a woman, and, consequently, beyond my ken.

Hitherto I had regarded the sex very much from a distance, and a
little askance, as creatures naturally illogical, and given to
unreasoning impulse; delicate, ethereal beings whose lives were
made up of petty trifles and vanities, who were sent into this
gross world to be admired, petted, occasionally worshipped, and
frequently married.

Indeed, my education, in this direction, had been shockingly
neglected thus far, not so much from lack of inclination (for who
can deny the fascination of the Sex?) as for lack of time and
opportunity; for when, as a young gentleman of means and great
expectations, I should have been writing sonnets to the eyebrow
of some "ladye fayre," or surreptitiously wooing some farmer's
daughter, in common with my kind, I was hearkening to the plaint
of some Greek or Roman lover, or chuckling over old Brantome.