shadows that were cast on her face by the candle. After all,
_duty_ not _right_ was the really important matter, and the lecturer
thought that it would be better if one heard the former word rather
oftener in connection with the woman's question, and the latter word
rather more seldom. Then, with new sweetness, and in a tone not to be
described, she went on to speak of the natural responsibilities and joys
of her sex, drawing a moving, if somewhat familiar picture of those
avocations, than which she was sure there could be nothing higher or
holier.

For some not easily explained cause, the construction of this sentence
gave it a peculiar unctuous force: "than which," as Fred afterwards
remarked, "would have bowled over any but the most hardened sinner."

For weeks after this memorable lecture, if any very lofty altitude had
to be ascended in conversational excursions, the aspirant invariably
smiled with ineffable tenderness and lightly scaled the height,
murmuring "than which" to a vanquished audience.

The lecture was followed by a discussion that rather took the stiffness
out of Miss Temperley's phrases. The whole party was roused. Algitha had
to whisper a remonstrance to the boys, for their solemn questions were
becoming too preposterous. The lecture was discussed with much warmth.
There was a tendency to adopt the form "than which" with some frequency.
Bursts of laughter startled a company of rats in the wainscoting, and
there was a lively scamper behind the walls. No obvious opposition was
offered. Miss Temperley's views were examined with gravity, and indeed
in a manner almost pompous. But by the end of that trying process, they
had a sadly bedraggled and plucked appearance, much to their parent's
bewilderment. She endeavoured to explain further, and was met by
guilelessly intelligent questions, which had the effect of depriving the
luckless objects of their solitary remaining feather. The members of the
society continued to pine for information, and Miss Temperley
endeavoured to provide it, till late into the night. The discussion
finally drifted on to dangerous ground. Algitha declared that she
considered that no man had any just right to ask a woman to pledge
herself to love him and live with him for the rest of her life. How
_could_ she? Hubert suggested that the woman made the same claim on the
man.

"Which is equally absurd," said Algitha. "Just as if any two people,
when they are beginning to form their