Marc Chagall Painting

Marc Chagall Painting
"I know those I can trust," he had answered, stuttering rather, as was his way when moved. "And - and I assure you, Mrs. Bunting, that I hardly have to speak to a human being - especially to a woman" (and he had drawn in his breath with a hissing sound) "before I know exactly what manner of person is before me."
Marc Chagall Painting
It hadn't taken the landlady very long to find out that her lodger had a queer kind of fear and dislike of women. When she was doing the staircase and landings she would often hear Mr. Sleuth reading aloud to himself passages in the Bible that were very uncomplimentary to her sex. But Mrs. Bunting had no very great opinion of her sister woman, so that didn't put her out. Besides, where one's lodger is concerned, a dislike of women is better than - well, than the other thing.
Marc Chagall Painting