n my mind what she had
said. I could come to no conclusion upon it save that my dislike for her
enigmatic aberrations was becoming more intense as my liking for the
girl herself increased. To change the current of her thoughts and my
own, I asked her abruptly:

"Are you a member of the _Cui Bono_ Society?"

"I! Oh, no. Women are not allowed to join--for the present."

"I am delighted to hear it," I said heartily, "and I hope the rule will
continue in force."

She looked at me in surprise. "Why should you mind? You are joining
yourself."

"That is different. I don't approve of ladies mixing themselves up in
these curious and perhaps questionable societies."

My remark amused her. Her eyes sparkled with simple fun. The change in
her manner was very agreeable to me.

"I might have expected that." To my extreme satisfaction she now looked
almost mischievous. "Herbert told me you were a little--"

"A little what?"

"Well, a little--you won't be vexed? That is right. He said a
little--mediaeval."

This abated my appreciation of her sense of humour, and I maintained a
dignified reticence, which unhappily she regarded as mere sullenness,
until we reached the Society's room.

The place was well filled, and the company, in spite of the
extravagantly modern costumes of the younger women, which I cannot
describe better than by saying that there was little difference in it
from that of ordinary male attire, was quite conventional in so far as
the interchange of ordinary courtesies went. When, however, any member
of the Society mingled with a group of visitors, the conversation was
soon turned into a new channel. Secrets of science, which I had been
accustomed to look upon as undiscoverable, were bandied about like the
merest commonplaces of education. The absurdity of individuality and the
subjectivity of the emotions were alike insisted on without notice of
the paradox, which to me appeared extreme. The Associates were
altruistic for the sake of altruism, not for the sake of its
beneficiaries. They were not pantheists, for they saw neither universal
good nor God, but rather evil in all things--themselves included. Their
talk, however, was brilliant, and, with allowance for its jarring
sentiments, it possessed something of the indefinable charm which
followed Brande. My reflections on this identity of interest were
interrupted by the man himself. After a word of welcome he said:

"Let me show you our great experiment