late Professor James, who is said to have been
the profoundest thinker this country has ever produced, and he has said
much more equally startling to those little minds that, like full
bottles, have no room for more."

Dr. Earl threw back his head and laughed; his quandary was over, his
course settled. He turned to Silvia with a genial smile. "Score one more
victory for the Feminists," he said. "I wonder if there ever has been a
time, anywhere on earth, where women were actually and aggressively
noncombatants. The Spartan woman handing over her husband's shield is
typical. Whenever and wherever there has been a cause worth fighting
for, worth dying for--always and forever we can see the figure of the
woman, shield on arm and javelin in hand, standing at the door of the
slothful warrior's tent, calling him to action. Sometimes the eternal
feminine leads on, but very frequently, I regret to say, it has to get
back and drive, and sometimes if it did not kneel and push I fear the
wheels of progress would not revolve at all; that we do go on, slowly
and uncertainly, it is true, but that we go on at all, is due to the
woman soul that will not let us waste our years in the wilderness when
the land of promise is so near at hand. Ladies, I go!"

He rose as if to make good his words, but Hilda entered a peremptory
negative, and it ended by his staying to dinner and spending a long and
utterly delightful evening, which became in a sense the beginning of
what he felt was a new epoch in his life. This was the understanding,
the fellowship, the _bon camaraderie_ that gives existence its zest and
permits one to dream of life eternal without a horror of impending
weariness and boredom.

CHAPTER XV

AN EVIL PROPHECY BEGINS TO BEAR FRUIT

Leonora and Mrs. Kimball accompanied Dr. Earl to the meeting of the
medical society, and if he had some doubts whether or not she would be
able to follow his discourse perfectly, he had none whatever as to his
own pride and pleasure in her dainty loveliness. She was gowned in
white, and the season's styles were particularly becoming to her
graceful and well-rounded figure. Her radiant face with its sensitive
coloring resembled the delicate glow of one of those rare Sevres vases
of the Empire Period.

She appreciated the compliment of the invitation, as people always
appreciate the compliment of being invited to distinguished gatherings
where the subjects of discussion are likely to be muc