small property. I
have no authority over me. I can do as I please, in this, without a
collision, or the dread of one. It is the married woman's perpetual dread
when she ventures a step. Your Law originally presumed her a China-footed
animal. And more, I have a claim for maintenance.'

She crimsoned angrily.

Redworth showed a look of pleasure, hard to understand. 'The application
would be sufficient, I fancy,' he said.

'It should have been offered.'

'Did you not decline it?'

'I declined to apply for it. I thought--But, Mr. Redworth, another thing,
concerning us all: I want very much to hear your ideas of the prospects
of the League; because I know you have ideas. The leaders are terrible
men; they fascinate me. They appear to move with an army of facts. They
are certainly carrying the country. I am obliged to think them sincere.
Common agitators would not hold together, as they do. They gather
strength each year. If their statistics are not illusory--an army of
phantoms instead of one of facts; and they knock at my head without
admission, I have to confess; they must win.'

'Ultimately, it is quite calculable that they will win,' said Redworth;
and he was led to discourse of rates and duties and prohibitive tariffs
to a woman surprisingly athirst, curious for every scrap of intelligence
relating to the power, organization, and schemes of the League. 'Common
sense is the secret of every successful civil agitation,' he said. 'Rap
it unremittingly on crowds of the thickest of human heads, and the
response comes at last to sweep all before it. You may reckon that the
country will beat the landlords--for that is our question. Is it one of
your political themes?'

'I am not presumptuous to such a degree:--a poor scholar,' Diana replied.
'Women striving to lift their heads among men deserve the sarcasm.'

He denied that any sarcasm was intended, and the lesson continued. When
she had shaped in her mind some portion of his knowledge of the subject,
she reverted casually to her practical business. Would he undertake to
try to obtain a purchaser of The Crossways, at the price he might deem
reasonable? She left the price entirely to his judgement. And now she had
determined to part with the old place, the sooner the better! She said
that smiling; and Redworth smiled, outwardly and inwardly. Her talk of
her affairs was clearer to him than her curiosity for the mysteries of
the League. He gained kind looks besides warm t