ad such bunkum? And his 'men of light
and leading'--ha, ha, ha!"

"He has stolen the phrase," remarked Mrs. Wade. "Where from, I can't
say; but I'm perfectly sure I have come across it."

"Ha! I wish we could authenticate that! Search your memory--do--and get
a letter in the _Examiner_ on Saturday."

"Some one will be out with it before then. Besides, I'm sure you don't
wish for me to draw attention to myself just now."

"Why not? I shall be disappointed if you don't give me a great deal of
help."

"I am hardly proper, you know."

She looked steadily at him, with an inscrutable smile, then let her
eyes again stray round the room.

"Bosh! As I was saying to Lily at lunch, women ought to have a
particular interest in this election. If they are worth anything at
all, they will declare that England sha'n't go in for the chance of war
just to please that Jew phrase-monger. I'm ready enough for a fight, on
sound occasion, but I won't fight in obedience to Dizzy and the
music-halls! By jingo, no!"

He laughed uproariously.

"You won't get many Polterham women to see it in that light," observed
the widow. "This talk about the ascendency of England is just the thing
to please them. They adore Dizzy, because he is a fop who has succeeded
brilliantly; they despise Gladstone, because he is conscientious and an
idealist. Surely I don't need to tell you this?"

She leaned forward, smiling into his face.

"Well," he exclaimed, with a laugh, "of course I can admit, if you
like, that most women are _not_ worth anything politically. But why
should I be uncivil?"

Mrs. Wade answered in a low voice, strangely gentle.

"Don't I know their silliness and worthlessness? What woman has more
reason to be ashamed of her sex?"

"Let us--hope!"

"For the millennium--yes." Her eyes gleamed, and she went on in a more
accustomed tone. "Women are the great reactionary force. In political
and social matters their native baseness shows itself on a large scale.
They worship the vulgar, the pretentious, the false. Here they will
most of them pester their husbands to vote for Welwyn-Baker just
because they hate change with the hatred of weak fear. Those of them
who know anything at all about the Irish question are dead set against
Ireland--simply because they are unimaginative and ungenerous; they
can't sympathize with what seems a hopeless cause, and Ireland to them
only suggests the dirty Irish of Polterham back streets. As for
Europe