early proof of it. It had not so
much as occurred to her to enjoy immunity on account of her sex; it had
not entered her mind, apparently, that her sex was an obstacle in the
way of participating in whatever dangerous enterprise he had planned.
She was, in fact, behaving like a chivalric but obstinate boy; she had
not been a militant suffragette for nothing. And yet, somehow, this
attitude only served to enhance her essential femininity.
Nevertheless, Cleggett was inflexible.

"You would scarcely forbid me to go to Morris's today, or anywhere else
I may choose," she said hotly, with a spot of red on either cheek bone,
and a dangerous dilatation of her eyes.

"That is exactly what I intend to do," said Cleggett, with an intensity
equal to her own, "FORBID you."

"You are curiously presumptuous," she said.

It was a real quarrel before they were done with it, will opposed to
naked will. And oddly enough Cleggett found his admiration grow as his
determination to gain his point increased. For she fought fair,
disdaining the facile weapon of tears, and when she yielded she did it
suddenly and merrily.

"You've the temper of a sultan, Mr. Cleggett," she said with a laugh,
which was her signal of capitulation. And then she added maliciously:
"You've a devil of a temper--for a little man!"

"Little!" Cleggett felt the blood rush into his face again and was
vexed at himself. "I'm taller than you are!" he cried, and the next
instant could have bitten his tongue off for the childish vanity of the
speech.

"You're not!" she cried, her whole face alive with laughter. "Measure
and see!"

And pulling off her hat she caught up a table knife and made him stand
with his back to hers. "You're cheating," said Cleggett, laughing now
in spite of himself, as she laid the knife across their heads. But his
voice broke and trembled on the next words, for he was suddenly
thrilled with her delicious nearness. "You're standing on your tiptoes,
and your hair's piled on top of your head."

"Maybe you are an inch taller," she admitted, with mock reluctance.
And then she said, with a ripple of mirth: "You are taller than I
am--I give up; I won't go to Morris's."

Cleggett, to tell the truth, was a bit relieved at the measurement. He
was of the middle height; she was slightly taller than the average
woman; he had really thought she might prove taller than he. He could
scarcely have told why he considered the point important.