“And yet I’ve never been more full of hope,” I said. “That my sex too will breathe the invigorating air of freedom that tears down walls and breaches gates. Shouldn’t our liberty matter to you too, Mr. Godwin?”

Godwin looked flustered and frustrated, searching for an answer. I almost felt sorry for him.

“How much better the world would be,” Darwin intervened to save us, “if we could accept men and women, and plants too, as equal citizens, with the same feelings and desires—worship the pistils and stamens in all of us, according to Nature’s plan.”

“The most divine of all,” said Fuseli, putting a final point on it.

We emerged into a drizzling November night, the others still waiting for carriages, when Godwin and I found ourselves, walkers that we were, aimed in a similar direction.

“I should offer to escort you home, Wollstonecraft, but I fear you’d consider it gallantry.”

“I’m quite capable of watching out for my own welfare,” I said, putting up my hood.

“Well, then, I shall walk this other way.”

As he turned to go, I couldn’t help but call after him: “Why did you look irritated every time I opened my mouth?”

He turned back, and stepped closer. “I came in hopes of hearing the great Thomas Paine,” he said, “who never had a chance of opening his.”

“Because of me, you mean.”

“You do occupy quite a bit of space.”

“As a woman, you find me opinionated and domineering. If I were a man—”

“You are no Thomas Paine. I don’t mean to insult you.”

“Ah, but you have.”

We were nearly shouting over the rain, dripping off my hood, his hat.

“I’ve read your first Vindication. Frankly, I found it disheveled and rambling.”

“Says a thinker who sights a woman of no importance advancing on his territory.”

“I didn’t say you had ‘no importance.’ But like you, I’m trying to earn my living by my pen. Hardworking at my own ideas of political justice. Johnson believes in me.”

“Yes, I think Johnson described you as rational to the point of coldness. How I look forward to reading you. Good night, Godwin.”

It was my turn to steer away, when he nearly shouted to my back.

“I must say, in the matter of your welfare, that Fuseli is notorious. I would caution you to stay away.”

I stopped and turned, surprised he’d noticed whatever spark there was between us.

Godwin walked close to me. “The man is a rake. A seducer. With equality in mind, but not the sort either of us is fighting for.”

“I can take care of myself. I’ve been at table with him for months—”

“Not everything begins with you, Wollstonecraft, though I do think some things escape your keen attention.”

I stood still, never losing his gaze. “Do say, Mr. Godwin.”