mirable.'

'For my part,' declared Mrs. Smallbrook, 'I aim at the solidarity of
woman. You, at all events, agree with me, Winifred?'

'I really don't think, aunt, that there can be any solidarity of ladies
with servant girls,' responded Miss Haven, encouraged by a look from
Rhoda.

'Then I grieve that your charity falls so far below the Christian
standard.'

Miss Barfoot firmly guided the conversation to a more hopeful subject.

Not many people visited this house. Every Wednesday evening, from
half-past eight to eleven, Miss Barfoot was at home to any of her
acquaintances, including her pupils, who chose to call upon her; but
this was in the nature of an association with recognized objects. Of
society in the common sense Miss Barfoot saw very little; she had no
time to sacrifice in the pursuit of idle ceremonies. By the successive
deaths of two relatives, a widowed sister and an uncle, she had come
into possession of a modest fortune; but no thought of a life such as
would have suggested itself to most women in her place ever tempted
her. Her studies had always been of a very positive nature; her
abilities were of a kind uncommon in women, or at all events very
rarely developed in one of her sex. She could have managed a large and
complicated business, could have filled a place on a board of
directors, have taken an active part in municipal government--nay,
perchance in national. And this turn of intellect consisted with many
traits of character so strongly feminine that people who knew her best
thought of her with as much tenderness as admiration. She did not seek
to become known as the leader of a 'movement,' yet her quiet work was
probably more effectual than the public career of women who
propagandize for female emancipation. Her aim was to draw from the
overstocked profession of teaching as many capable young women as she
could lay hands on, and to fit them for certain of the pursuits
nowadays thrown open to their sex. She held the conviction that
whatever man could do, woman could do equally well--those tasks only
excepted which demand great physical strength. At her instance, and
with help from her purse, two girls were preparing themselves to be
pharmaceutical chemists; two others had been aided by her to open a
bookseller's shop; and several who had clerkships in view received an
admirable training' at her school in Great Portland Street.

Thither every weekday morning Miss Barfoot and Rhoda repaired; th