ld
circularize the provinces with Partridge's last speech? What? You've not
read it? Oh, it's the best thing they've had in the House this Session.
Even the Prime Minister--"

But Mary cut her short.

"We don't allow shop at tea, Sally," she said firmly. "We fine her a
penny each time she forgets, and the fines go to buying a plum cake,"
she explained, seeking to draw Katharine into the community. She had
given up all hope of impressing her.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Mrs. Seal apologized. "It's my misfortune to be
an enthusiast," she said, turning to Katharine. "My father's daughter
could hardly be anything else. I think I've been on as many committees
as most people. Waifs and Strays, Rescue Work, Church Work, C. O.
S.--local branch--besides the usual civic duties which fall to one as a
householder. But I've given them all up for our work here, and I don't
regret it for a second," she added. "This is the root question, I feel;
until women have votes--"

"It'll be sixpence, at least, Sally," said Mary, bringing her fist down
on the table. "And we're all sick to death of women and their votes."

Mrs. Seal looked for a moment as though she could hardly believe her
ears, and made a deprecating "tut-tut-tut" in her throat, looking
alternately at Katharine and Mary, and shaking her head as she did so.
Then she remarked, rather confidentially to Katharine, with a little nod
in Mary's direction:

"She's doing more for the cause than any of us. She's giving her
youth--for, alas! when I was young there were domestic circumstances--"
she sighed, and stopped short.

Mr. Clacton hastily reverted to the joke about luncheon, and explained
how Mrs. Seal fed on a bag of biscuits under the trees, whatever the
weather might be, rather, Katharine thought, as though Mrs. Seal were a
pet dog who had convenient tricks.

"Yes, I took my little bag into the square," said Mrs. Seal, with the
self-conscious guilt of a child owning some fault to its elders. "It was
really very sustaining, and the bare boughs against the sky do one
so much GOOD. But I shall have to give up going into the square," she
proceeded, wrinkling her forehead. "The injustice of it! Why should I
have a beautiful square all to myself, when poor women who need rest
have nowhere at all to sit?" She looked fiercely at Katharine, giving
her short locks a little shake. "It's dreadful what a tyrant one still
is, in spite of all one's efforts. One tries to lead a decent li