deas carried out by a woman of narrow mind and
strong will," said Lady Engleton.

"Oh those traditional ideas! They might have issued fresh and hot from
an asylum for criminal lunatics."

"You are deliciously absurd, Hadria."

"It is the criminal lunatics who are absurd," she retorted. "Do you
remember how those poor girls used to bewail the restrictions to their
reading?"

"Yes, it was really a _reductio ad absurdum_ of our system. The girls
seemed afraid to face anything. They would rather die than think. (I
wonder why Professor Theobald lingers so up there by the chancel? The
time must be getting on.)"

Hadria glanced towards him and made no comment. She was thinking of Mrs.
Jordan's daughters.

"What became of their personality all that time I cannot imagine: their
woman's nature that one hears so much about, and from which such
prodigious feats were to be looked for, in the future."

"Yes, _that_ is where the inconsistency of a girl's education strikes me
most," said Lady Engleton. "If she were intended for the cloister one
could understand it. But since she is brought up for the express purpose
of being married, it does seem a little absurd not to prepare her a
little more for her future life."

"Exactly," cried Hadria, "if the orthodox are really sincere in
declaring that life to be so sacred and desirable, why on earth don't
they treat it frankly and reverently and teach their girls to understand
and respect it, instead of allowing a furtive, sneaky, detestable spirit
to hover over it?"

"Yes, I agree with you there," said Lady Engleton.

"And if they _don't_ really in their hearts think it sacred and so on
(and how they _can_, under our present conditions, I fail to see), why
do they deliberately bring up their girls to be married, as they bring
up their sons to a profession? It is inconceivable, and yet good people
do it, without a suspicion of the real nature of their conduct, which it
wouldn't be polite to describe."

Mrs. Jordan--her face irradiated with satisfaction--was acknowledging
the plaudits of the villagers, who shouted more or less in proportion
to the eye-filling properties of the departing guests.

Hadria was seized with a fit of laughter. It was an awkward fact, that
she never could see Mrs. Jordan's majestic form and noble bonnet without
feeling the same overwhelming impulse to laugh.

"This is disgraceful conduct!" cried Lady Engleton.

Hadria was clearly in one of her most r