t Madame Nerisse wants me
to explain to you. You know our paper?

MADEMOISELLE GREGOIRE. No, I've never seen it.

THERESE. Never seen it! Never seen _Woman Free_?

MADEMOISELLE GREGOIRE. Never. I only know it by name.

THERESE. How odd! Well, here's a copy. It's in two parts, you see, and
they're quite different from each other. Here the doctrine, there the
attractions. Madame Nerisse thought of that.

MADEMOISELLE GREGOIRE [_reading as she turns over the leaves_] "Votes
for Women."

THERESE [_reading with her_] "Votes for Women," "An End of Slavery." And
then, on here, lighter things.

MADEMOISELLE GREGOIRE. Frivolities?

THERESE. Frivolities. A story. "Beauty Notes."

MADEMOISELLE GREGOIRE [_reading and laughing a little_] "The Doctor's
Page."

THERESE. Oh, too bad! But it wasn't I who first said frivolities!

MADEMOISELLE GREGOIRE [_still laughing_] I shall bear up. And what comes
after "The Doctor's Page"?

THERESE. "Beauty Notes" and "Gleanings."

MADEMOISELLE GREGOIRE. Gleanings?

THERESE. Yes. It's a column where real and imaginary subscribers
exchange notes about cookery receipts, and housekeeping tips, and hair
lotions, and that sort of thing.

MADEMOISELLE GREGOIRE. Quite a good thing.

THERESE. I most confess it's the best read part.

MADEMOISELLE GREGOIRE. I'm not at all surprised.

THERESE. I'm afraid we can't conceal from ourselves that Monsieur
Nerisse has not altogether succeeded. Each of us is inclined to like
only her own section. We've a girl here, Caroline Legrand, one of the
staff, who's tremendously go-a-head. You should hear her on the subject
of "Soap of the Sylphs" and "Oriental Balm."

MADEMOISELLE GREGOIRE. It makes her furious?

THERESE. She's a sort of rampageous saint; ferocious and affectionate by
turns, a bit ridiculous perhaps, but delightful and generous. She's so
simple nasty people could easily make a fool of her, but all nice people
like her.

MADEMOISELLE GREGOIRE. Shall I have much to do with her?

THERESE. Not much. You'll be under Mademoiselle de Meuriot, and you'll
be lucky. She's a dear. She's been sacrificing herself all her life.
She's my great friend--the only one I have.

MADEMOISELLE GREGOIRE [_taking up the paper again_] But how's this? Your
contributors are all men. Gabriel de--, Camille de--, Claud de--, Rene
de--, Marcel de--.

THERESE. Well! I never noticed that before. They're the pen-names of our
writers.

MADEMOISELLE GREGOIRE. All