membership
was most prized by the women of River Falls. It was not a large club,
and she had longed for many years somehow to place her name among the
eighty on its roll. The richest and most exclusive women of River Falls
belonged to the Forum Club; its few rooms, situated in the business
part of town, and handsomely but plainly furnished, were full of subtle
reminders that here was no mere social center; here responsible members
of the recently enfranchised sex met to discuss civic betterment,
schools and municipal budgets, commercialized vice and child labor,
library appropriations, liquor laws and sewer systems. Local
politicians were beginning to respect the Forum, local newspapers
reported its conventions, printed its communications.

Mrs. Salisbury was really a little bit out of place among the clever,
serious young doctors, the architects, lawyers, philanthropists and
writers who belonged to the club. But her membership therein was one of
the things in which she felt an unalloyed satisfaction. If the
discussions ever secretly bored or puzzled her, she was quite clever
enough to conceal it. She sat, her handsome face, under its handsome
hat, turned toward the speaker, her bright eyes immovable as she
listened to reports and expositions. And, after the motion to adjourn
had been duly made, she had her reward. Rich women, brilliant women,
famous women chatted with her cordially as the Forum Club streamed
downstairs. She was asked to luncheons, to teas; she was whirled home
in the limousines of her fellow-members. No other one thing in her life
seemed to Mrs. Salisbury as definite a social triumph as was her
membership in the Forum.

Her election had come about simply enough, after years of secret
longing to become a member. Sandy, who was about twelve at the time,
during a call from Mrs. Sargent, had said innocently:

"Why haven't you ever joined the Forum, Mother?"

"Why, yes; why not?" Mrs. Sargent had added.

This gave Mrs. Salisbury an opportunity to say:

"Well, I have been a very busy woman, and couldn't have done so, with
these three dear children to watch. But, as a matter of fact, Mrs.
Sargent, I have never been asked. At least," she went on scrupulously,
"I am almost sure I never have been!" The implication being that the
Forum's card of invitation might have been overlooked for more
important affairs.

"I'll send you another," the great lady had said at once. "You're just
the sort we need," Mrs.