le."

"A conquering race, if it is wise, governs its subjects largely through
their internecine squabbles and jealousies. _But what if they
combine----?_"

"Ah!" Hadria drew a deep sigh. "I wish the moment of sisterhood were a
little nearer."

"Heaven hasten it!" cried Algitha.

"Perhaps it is nearer than we imagine. Women are quick learners, when
they begin. But, oh, it is hard sometimes to make them begin. They are
so annoyingly abject; so painfully diffident. It is their pride to be
humble. The virtuous worm won't even turn!"

"Poor worm! It sometimes permits itself the relief of verbal
expression!" observed Algitha.

Hadria laughed. "There are smiling, villainous worms, who deny
themselves even _that!_"

After a long silence, Algitha taking the poker in her hand and altering
the position of some of the coals, asked what Hadria meant to do in the
future; how she was going to "turn," if that was her intention.

"Oh, I cannot even turn!" replied Hadria. "Necessity knows no law. The
one thing I won't do, is to be virtuously resigned. And I won't 'make
the best of it.'"

Algitha laughed. "I am relieved to hear so wrong-headed a sentiment from
you. It sounds more like your old self."

"I won't be called wrong-headed on this account," said Hadria. "If my
life is to bear testimony to the truth, its refrain ought to be, 'This
is wrong, this is futile, this is cruel, this is damnable.' I shall warn
every young woman I come across, to beware, as she grows older, and has
people in her clutches, not to express her affection by making
unlimited demands on the beloved objects, nor by turning the world into
a prison-house for those whom she honours with her devotion. The hope of
the future lies in the rising generation. You can't alter those who have
matured in the old ideas. It is for us to warn. I _won't_ pretend to
think that things are all right, when I know they are not all right.
That would be mean. What is called making the best of it, would testify
all the wrong way. My life, instead of being a warning, would be a sort
of a trap. Let me at least play the humble role of scarecrow. I am in
excellent condition for it," she added, grasping her thin wrist.

Algitha shook her head anxiously.

"I fear," she said, "that the moral that most people will draw will be:
'Follow in the path of Mrs. Gordon, however distasteful it may seem to
you, and whatever temptations you feel towards a more independent life.
If you don