Sentence:  Ransom reflected he might answer her that until five minutes ago he didn't know she existed; but he remembered that this was not the way in which a Southern gentleman spoke to ladies, and he contented himself with saying that he must condone his <WSD>Boeotian</WSD> ignorance.... 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Stupid, foolish, dull-witted.