stranger? Again, why blame the stranger, moved doubtless by a
kindly and an unselfish impulse? Why blame Miss Arkwright, in short, for
growing daily more cordial, more appreciative, more anxious to oblige
with the pat? Lionel was obeying the orders of Beatrice, to watch and do
the bidding of his hostess; he could not be expected to damp her
graciousness, check her enthusiasm: had he done so, he might have sealed
the source of some important information. He must endure the pat, suffer
it, permit, accept, not refuse; but ... welcome?

He was talking to her in the garden one afternoon. They had begun the
conversation on some trivial theme, soon tossed aside for a subject of
substance. It was not long before they were on the time-worn topic, the
war of the sexes. Miss Arkwright, it appeared, was a suffragette--not
militant, certainly, but convinced and ardent. She expressed surprise
that Lionel did not take similar views. "For you," she said sweetly,
"are a reasonable fair-minded man. And I should think," she added
mischievously, "that you have many friends who might convert you."

"It isn't my brain that wants conversion," he replied meditatively.
"Most of the arguments are on the women's side. Logic tells me they
should have the vote; feeling--and by feeling I don't mean prejudice or
bigotry, but something deeper--recoils from the idea of women in
parliament. And it would mean that in the long-run. Let us keep them out
of the dirty work."

"They might cleanse the stables."

"I'd rather not. We're cleansing them gradually, one hopes: at any rate,
it's not a woman's job."

"Our view is that _all_ jobs should be women's."

"Impossible." He shook his head. "I'm one of the old-fashioned believers
in the home as woman's sphere----"

"And the thousands of unmarried workers? You forget them."

"Hard, I grant you, but they're a minority. Most women have the home
sphere. Mind, I don't believe in inequality as regards laws: they should
be the same for both."

"Yes," she said with a bitterness that surprised him, "look at the
inequalities of divorce, for instance."

"We'll discuss that presently. Look for a moment at the reverse of the
medal. Hasn't woman got the pull in influence? Can't she sway men
without the vote?"

"A pretty woman or a clever woman can. Not the others."

"Ye--es. Sex counts."

"So you leave us the weapon of the coquette? That's what it amounts to.
Is that a desirable weapon? Besides, it's double