I am
shocked at is your ideals. I thought you'd want to educate yourself to
such superiority over common woman that you could take the platform,
and backed by your splendid physique, work for suffrage or lecture to
educate the masses."

"I think more could be accomplished with selected specimens, by being
steadily on the job, than by giving an hour to masses. I'm not much
interested in masses. They are too abstract for me; I prefer one stern
reality. And as for Woman's Rights, if anybody gives this woman the
right to do anything more than she already has the right to do,
there'll surely be a scandal."

Mrs. Jardine lay back in her chair laughing.

"You are the most refreshing person I have met in all my travels. Then
to put it baldly, you want of life a man, a farm, and a family."

"You comprehend me beautifully," said Kate. "All my life I've worked
like a towhead to help earn two hundred acres of land for someone else.
I think there's nothing I want so much as two hundred acres of land for
myself. I'd undertake to do almost anything with it, if I had it. I
know I could, if I had the shoulder-to-shoulder, real man. You notice
it will take considerable of a man to touch shoulders with me; I'm a
head taller than most of them."

Mrs. Jardine looked at her speculatively. "Ummm!" she murmured. Kate
laughed.

"For eighteen years I have been under marching orders," said Kate.
"Over a year ago I was advised by a minister to 'take the wings of
morning' so I took wing. I started on one grand flight and fell
ker-smash in short order. Life since has been a series of battering my
wings until I have almost decided to buy some especially heavy boots,
and walk the remainder of the way. As a concrete example, I started
out yesterday morning wearing a hat that several very reliable parties
assured me would so assist me to flight that I might at least have a
carriage. Where, oh, where are my hat and my carriage now? The
carriage, non est! The hat--I am humbly hoping some little country
girl, who has lived a life as barren as mine, will find the remains and
retrieve the velvet bow for a hair-ribbon. As for the man that Leghorn
hat was supposed to symbolize, he won't even look my way when I appear
in my bobby little sailor. He's as badly crushed out of existence as
my beautiful hat."

"You never should have been wearing such a hat to travel in, my dear,"
murmured Mrs. Jardine.

"Certainly not!" said Kate. "I kne