Provocatrice

In these last ten days in the settle-bed, he had reached one other definite though qualified conclusion: if the legend was true, he had lost Merrily completely, and for one simple reason. The reason was this: she was the one woman he could truly love. She was a provocatrice, yes. An accomplished flirt, yes. No better than she should be, by the gossip, yes. But he loved her.

The Sceptic will be no provocateur or provocatrice; if we imagine a female Sceptic, she will have no doctrinal reason for doing anything to provoke her neighbours or the authorities.

After she died, I knew what she would say all the time. Now, I must think even to remember. She would say . . . well, she was a provocatrice. She would throw down the gauntlet in anything she said.