sit with his back toward the engine, as he
was sure to be car-sick. The young stranger accordingly changed places
with him. Then he found fault with his new seat, because it was exposed
to a draught which blew the cinders into his eyes. Thereupon the young
man promptly volunteered to close the window for him; but this only made
matters worse, for fresh air was indispensable. At this, the blond lady
gave up her place to the gentleman, and he, at last, appeared satisfied.
Not so, however, the lady herself; she was now seated opposite the
stranger, to whom she and her companions were so greatly indebted, and
the feeling of indebtedness is always somewhat irksome.

Women on a journey are inclined to regard a stranger's approach with
some suspicion, and to be ever on the alert against adventurers. A vague
mistrust of this sort concerning the young stranger may have been
aroused by the mere fact that, Hungarian though his language indicated
him to be, he and the ladies' escort indulged in no interchange of
courtesies so natural among fellow-countrymen meeting by chance in a
foreign land. Nevertheless the blond lady strove to assume an air that,
on her part, should signify an entire absence of interest in all things
relating to her _vis-a-vis_. Even when the sun shone in her face and
annoyed her, she seemed determined to adjust the window-shade without
any help from the stranger, until he courteously prevailed on her to
accept his aid.

"Oh, what helpless creatures we women are!" she exclaimed as she sank
back into her seat.

"You have yourselves to blame for it," was the other's rejoinder.

If he had simply offered some vapid compliment, protesting, for example,
that women were by no means helpless creatures, but, on the contrary,
the rulers of the stronger sex, and so of the world,--then she would
have merely smiled sarcastically and relapsed into silence; but there
was something like a challenge in his unexpected retort.

"_Par exemple?_" she rejoined, with an involuntary show of interest.

"For example," he continued, "a lady voluntarily surrenders the
comfortable seat assigned to her, and exchanges with a man who occupies
an uncomfortable one."

The lady coloured slightly. "A free initiative," said she, "is seldom
possible with a woman. She is ever subject to a stronger will."

"Yet she need not be," was the reply; "with the fascination which she
exerts over men she is in reality the stronger."

"Ah, yes; but su