the two hours of solitude, her first comment, spoken half
audibly, would have surprised her teachers as much as it would have
surprised herself, if she had been conscious of it; for as yet her
thinking was not self-conscious:

'Surely, I am not like that!'

It was of the women she had been thinking, not of the men. The glimpse
which she had had of her own sex had been an awakening to her; and the
awakening had not been to a pleasant world. All at once she seemed to
realise that her sex had defects--littlenesses, meannesses, cowardices,
falsenesses. That their occupations were apt to be trivial or narrow or
selfish; that their desires were earthly, and their tastes coarse; that
what she held to be goodness was apt to be realised only as fear. That
innocence was but ignorance, or at least baffled curiosity. That . . .

A flood of shame swept over her, and instinctively she put her hands
before her burning face. As usual, she was running all at once into
extremes.

And above all these was borne upon her, and for the first time in her
life, that she was herself a woman!

For a long time she sat quite still. The train thrilled and roared on
its way. Crowded stations took and gave their quantum of living freight;
but the young girl sat abstracted, unmoved, seemingly unconscious. All
the dominance and energy of her nature were at work.

If, indeed, she was a woman, and had to abide by the exigencies of her
own sex, she would at least not be ruled and limited by woman's weakness.
She would plan and act and manage things for herself, in her own way.

Whatever her thoughts might be, she could at least control her acts. And
those acts should be based not on woman's weakness, but on man's
strength!

CHAPTER VII--THE NEED OF KNOWING

When Stephen announced her intention of going with her father to the
Petty Sessions Court, there was consternation amongst the female
population of Normanstand and Norwood. Such a thing had not been heard
of in the experiences of any of them. Courts of Justice were places for
men; and the lower courts dealt with a class of cases . . . It was quite
impossible to imagine where any young lady could get such an idea . . .

Miss Laetitia Rowly recognised that she had a difficult task before her,
for she was by now accustomed to Stephen's quiet method of having her own
way.

She made a careful toilet before driving over to Normanstand. Her
wearing her best bonnet was a circum