nose and the palest little china-blue eyes imaginable. Nevertheless,
this woman was Mrs. Slicer, president of the Federation of Women's
Clubs, and those weak eyes had once stared a Governor of a State out of
countenance.

"Hen, they have," said she, in a fairy voice; and so turned back to her
own affairs, dropping from these pages.

Henrietta presently said: "But why should they oppose it, really, Cally?
If you were a man, would you insist on the privilege of marrying a
helpless dependent, your mental and moral inferior? Seems to me I'd
rather have an intelligent comrade, my superior for choice--"

But Hen discovered that her voice all at once sounded very loud. There
was a sudden lull in the conversational hum, and then a burst of
hand-clapping. The lady president of the Woman's Club had entered at the
head of the rooms, followed by the orators. They ascended the platform;
and when Cally saw but the Mayor of the city and Mr. Pond of the
Settlement, she said at once to Henrietta:

"Why, where's your friend V.V.?"

"Somewhere up at the front,--I _hope_!... He wasn't one of the regular
speakers, you know...."

Hen added in a faint whisper: "I doubt if he knows he's going to be
called on--"

Being duly presented to the expectant women, his Honor the Mayor spoke
first. He was a middle-aged, mustachioed Mayor, who had achieved a
considerable success by being all things to a few men, but those the
right ones. His reputation as an orator was well deserved, but his
ability to make one speech serve many occasions had been commented upon
by carpers here and there. See the files of the "Post," _passim_. To-day
his thesis was organized charity, lauded by him, between paragraphs of
the set piece, as philanthropy's great rebuke to Socialism. And thrice
his Honor spoke of the glorious capital of this grand old commonwealth;
twice his arm swept from the stormy Atlantic to the sun-kissed Pacific;
five times did he exalt, with the tremolo stop, the fair women of the
Southland....

"The dinner-bell of the house!" said Hen, _sotto voce_, as the orator
sat down, smiling tiredly amid familiar applause. "Don't be discouraged
yet, Cally."

Director Pond, having been most flatteringly introduced, received an
ovation, half for the man and his work, half from the wish of a kindly
people to bid the stranger welcome. He spoke half as long as the Mayor,
and said four times as much: so much space did he save by saying nothing
whatever a