utting the tops of his fingers together,
"she should excel as a housewife. I haven't any use for your so-called
intellectual woman. Of course, what I mean by a housewife is something
a little less bourgeoise; she should be able to conduct an establishment
with the neatness and despatch and economy of a well-run hotel. She
should be able to seat a table instantly and accurately, giving to the
prominent guests the prestige they deserve. Nor have I any sympathy with
the notion that makes a married woman a law unto herself. She enters
voluntarily into an agreement whereby she puts herself under the control
of her husband: his interests, his career, his--"

"Comfort?" suggested Victoria.

"Yes, his comfort--all that comes first. And his establishment is
conducted primarily, and his guests selected, in the interests of his
fortunes. Of course, that goes without saying of a man in high place in
public life. But he must choose for his wife a woman who is equal to all
these things,--to my mind her highest achievement,--who makes the most
of the position he gives her, presides at his table and entertainments,
and reaches such people as, for any reason, he is unable to reach. I
have taken the pains to point out these things in a general way, for
obvious reasons. My greatest desire is to be fair."

"What," asked Victoria, with her eyes on the river, "what are the
wages?"

Mr. Crewe laughed. Incidentally, he thought her profile very fine.

"I do not believe in flattery," he said, "but I think I should add to
the qualifications personality and a sense of humour. I am quite sure I
could never live with a woman--who didn't have a sense of humour."

"I should think it would be a little difficult," said Victoria, "to
get a woman with the qualifications you enumerate and a sense of humour
thrown in."

"Infinitely difficult," declared Mr. Crewe, with more ardour than he had
yet shown. "I have waited a good many years, Victoria."

"And yet," she said, "you have been happy. You have a perpetual source
of enjoyment denied to some people."

"What is that?" he asked. It is natural for a man to like to hear the
points of his character discussed by a discerning woman.

"Yourself," said Victoria, suddenly looking him full in the face. "You
are complete, Humphrey, as it is. You are happily married already.
Besides," she added, laughing a little, "the qualities you have
mentioned--with the exception of the sense of humour--are not those o