he woman
who is suddenly called upon to explain a change of mind, and she began
her explanation, speaking slowly and hesitatingly.

"You remember I told you about that Mrs. Emerson who came to see me and
ask me to join her club,--the Fortnightly, I believe they call it. Well,
the day after you left, I dressed myself in my best and went to see her.
And I told her that if the place was still open, I believed I'd join.
She was real pleasant about it, and said she was so glad I'd changed my
mind, and that they'd all be glad to have me for a member. And I said to
her: 'Now, Mrs. Emerson, I'm not an educated woman, but I've got sense
enough to know what I can do and what I can't do. I can't write papers
and make speeches, but maybe there's some kind of work for me to do, if
I join the club;' and she laughed and said that if I have sense enough
to know what I could do and what I couldn't do, I'd make a fine club
woman. And she said they had been studyin' _The Ring and the Book_,
whatever that is, but now they've concluded to change their plan of
work, and they were lookin' into the conditions of workin' people,
especially workin' women, and she was sure I could help in that sort of
work. And I said: 'That's very likely, for I've been a workin' woman
myself, and lived with workin' women all my life.' And she said that was
something to be proud of, and that every woman ought to be a workin'
woman, and it was just for that reason they wanted me in the club."

Sarah paused here and bent over to straighten out a tangle in her
worsteds. David was holding a paper open before him, but his wife's
social adventures were of more interest to him than any page of the
_Inventor's Journal_, and he waited patiently for Sarah to resume her
story.

"The next day was Wednesday, and the club met at Mrs. Morton's--she's
the president."

"What Morton? Alexander Morton's wife?" interrupted David.

Sarah nodded. "Yes, Mrs. Alexander Morton. They live in the big white
stone house over on First Avenue."

"He's president of the bank and about everything else in this place."
David stated this fact in an un-emotional way, but his eyes gleamed
with triumph. His wife and Alexander Morton's wife members of the same
club!

"When Mrs. Emerson said the club met at Mrs. Morton's, I declare, Dave,
my heart stood still at the thought of goin' by myself to that club. But
Mrs. Emerson said she'd come by in her carriage and take me there, and
she did."

Da