replied Agnes, quietly.

"No, that is a wholesale way of speaking," said her sister, positively.
"And you may not have understood the man, Guy; and you know you are
rather hasty."

"See here, Ruth, don't you begin to take sides with that fellow. Agnes
is bound to defend him, because he is a goat of the same fold. But you
may be glad you slipped out, backslid is the word I believe, for it is
no honor to have the association of such a contemptible specimen of
mankind."

Ruth's face flushed and her eye kindled at his allusion to her
backsliding, but she did not speak, while Agnes, who was deeply pained
at his unkind speech, immediately replied: "You are wrong, Guy, Ruth is
a church member, the same as I. And while neither of us can endorse what
is done by every member of the church, we know there are good, earnest
Christians there, and it is not for us to sit in judgment upon any."

"Bravo!" he exclaimed. "This is most animating. It is a pity you were
not a man, you would make a capital advocate. But excuse me, I forget,
we have ladies in the profession. If you have no objection to reading
with me, I shall be proud to present to the bar such an able pleader."

This was just what Agnes wanted, to have the conversation turned. So
that Ruth and the church escaped, she did not care what was said of her.
For fear of Guy returning to the old subject, she inquired whether he
thought women could ever attain any eminence in the profession.

"Yes, the fact of them being women will not mentally disqualify them,"
he replied. "As a general thing they are clear sighted, and although not
always logical, have a way of carrying their point in spite of all
opposition. To office work some might be well adapted, but when it comes
to practise at the bar, to get up and harangue a crowded court-room; to
be brought in contact with low characters and take any part in criminal
proceedings, then I say a woman is out of place. When they take that
stand I shall step aside and let them glory in their shame."

Guy spoke with great warmth. Ruth appeared to be listening attentively,
though she did not speak. Encouraged by the interest manifested by his
sisters, Guy Gorton Esq., Attorney at Law, was in the act of giving a
fuller expression of his views, and by his _logical_ reasoning,
determining woman's position for all time, when the door-bell rang and
Martha ushered in visitors.

To Ruth it was a happy relief, for though she had appeared to man