Atlantida

of attaining her goal, which was holy. The end justified the means.

"But my case is quite different. If I give in to the absurd caprices of this woman, that will not keep me from being catalogued down in the red marble hall, as Number 54, or as Number 55, if she prefers to take you first. Under those conditions . . ."

"Under those conditions?"

"Under those conditions, it would be unpardonable for me to acquiesce."

"Then what do you intend to do?"

"What do I intend to do?" Morhange leaned back in the armchair and smilingly launched a puff of smoke toward the ceiling.

"Nothing," he said. "And that is all that is necessary. Man has this superiority over woman. He is so constructed that he can refuse advances."

Then he added with an ironical smile:

"A man cannot be forced to accept unless he wishes to."

I nodded.

"I tried the most subtle reasoning on Antinea," he continued. "It was breath- wasted. 'But,' I said at the end of my arguments, 'why not Le Mesge?' She began to laugh. 'Why not the Reverend Spardek?' she replied. 'Le Mesge and Spardek are savants whom I respect. But

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