ny man he had ever met. His thoughts had wandered from them, more than
he thought proper, to Hilary and that girl. He had felt from the
beginning that he was so much more the man to deal with an affair like
this than poor old Hilary. When, therefore, Thyme put her head into his
study and said, "Father, Mrs. Tallents Smallpeace!" he had first thought,
'That busybody!' and then, 'I wonder--perhaps I'd better go and see if I
can get anything out of her.'

In considering Stephen's attitude towards a woman so firmly embedded in
the various social movements of the day, it must be remembered that he
represented that large class of men who, unhappily too cultivated to put
aside, like Mr. Purcey, all blue subjects, or deny the need for movements
to make them less blue, still could not move, for fear of being out of
order. He was also temperamentally distrustful of anything too feminine;
and Mrs. Tallents Smallpeace was undoubtedly extremely feminine. Her
merit, in his eyes, consisted of her attachment to Societies. So long as
mankind worked through Societies, Stephen, who knew the power of rules
and minute books, did not despair of too little progress being made. He
sat down beside her, and turned the conversation on her chief work--"the
Maids in Peril."

Searching his face with those eyes so like little black bees sipping
honey from all the flowers that grew, Mrs. Tallents Smallpeace said:

"Why don't you get your wife to take an interest in our work?"

To Stephen this question was naturally both unexpected and annoying,
one's wife being the last person he wished to interest in other people's
movements. He kept his head.

"Ah well!" he said, "we haven't all got a talent for that sort of thing."

The voice of Mr. Purcey travelled suddenly across the room.

"Do tell me! How do you go to work to worm things out of them?"

Mrs. Tallents Smallpeace, prone to laughter, bubbled.

"Oh, that is such a delicious expression, Mr. Purcey! I almost think we
ought to use it in our Report. Thank you!"

Mr. Purcey bowed. "Not at all!" he said.

Mrs. Tallents Smallpeace turned again to Stephen.

"We have our trained inquirers. That is the advantage of Societies such
as ours; so that we don't personally have the unpleasantness. Some cases
do baffle everybody. It's such very delicate work."

"You sometimes find you let in a rotter?" said Mr. Purcey, "or, I should
say, a rotter lets you in! Ha, ha!"

Mrs. Tallents Sma