ople. The last name on the list of speakers was
that of Mrs. Stanfield Fredericks. Milly was much excited. She was eager
to go to the meeting, if for no better reason than from a natural
curiosity to see the famous house, so often the theme of newspaper
hyperbole. Also she was anxious to hear Hazel talk. But she doubted the
propriety of her going anywhere so early in her widowhood. While she was
debating this point with herself the telephone rang and Hazel Fredericks
asked if she had received the card.

"You're going, of course?"

There followed a long feminine discussion over the propriety of
accepting, the dress to be worn, etc. Hazel insisted that this occasion
was not really social, but business, and steadily bore down Milly's
scruples. "There'll be a great crush. It won't make any difference what
you wear--nobody'll know!"

Milly went. She had to bribe the raw Swedish servant to remain in that
evening with little Virginia, and she went to the expense of a cab in
order not to arrive at the grand house in a sloppy and tousled
condition. It was in many respects a thrilling experience. Once inside
the glassed vestibule on the marble steps, Milly felt that she would not
have missed it for a great deal. In the first place she enjoyed seeing
the solemn liveried men servants, one of whom proffered pamphlet
literature of the suffrage cause on a large silver tray. (The little
books were sold at a good price, and Milly dropped another dollar or two
in acquiring stuff that she could have had for nothing from Hazel
Fredericks, whose apartment ran over with this "literature.")

Having supplied herself with the ammunition of the Cause, she followed
the throng into the celebrated ball-room hung with beautiful old
tapestries and with a ceiling stolen bodily from a French chateau. For a
time the richness and the gayety of the scene sufficiently occupied
Milly's attention. After the sombre experiences through which she had
been and her present drab environment, it all seemed like fairyland. She
tried to guess who the important-looking people were. A few were already
known to her by sight, and others she recognized from their newspaper
portraits. There was a majority of elegantly dressed women, and a
minority of amused or bored-looking men.

At last the gathering was hushed by the voice of the hostess,--a plump
and plethoric person, who said wheezily that in assembling here to-night
there were two objects in view: first, to hear