fe,
but one can't. Of course, directly one thinks of it, one sees that ALL
squares should be open to EVERY ONE. Is there any society with that
object, Mr. Clacton? If not, there should be, surely."

"A most excellent object," said Mr. Clacton in his professional manner.
"At the same time, one must deplore the ramification of organizations,
Mrs. Seal. So much excellent effort thrown away, not to speak of pounds,
shillings, and pence. Now how many organizations of a philanthropic
nature do you suppose there are in the City of London itself, Miss
Hilbery?" he added, screwing his mouth into a queer little smile, as if
to show that the question had its frivolous side.

Katharine smiled, too. Her unlikeness to the rest of them had, by this
time, penetrated to Mr. Clacton, who was not naturally observant, and
he was wondering who she was; this same unlikeness had subtly stimulated
Mrs. Seal to try and make a convert of her. Mary, too, looked at her
almost as if she begged her to make things easy. For Katharine had shown
no disposition to make things easy. She had scarcely spoken, and her
silence, though grave and even thoughtful, seemed to Mary the silence of
one who criticizes.

"Well, there are more in this house than I'd any notion of," she said.
"On the ground floor you protect natives, on the next you emigrate women
and tell people to eat nuts--"

"Why do you say that 'we' do these things?" Mary interposed, rather
sharply. "We're not responsible for all the cranks who choose to lodge
in the same house with us."

Mr. Clacton cleared his throat and looked at each of the young ladies
in turn. He was a good deal struck by the appearance and manner of Miss
Hilbery, which seemed to him to place her among those cultivated and
luxurious people of whom he used to dream. Mary, on the other hand, was
more of his own sort, and a little too much inclined to order him about.
He picked up crumbs of dry biscuit and put them into his mouth with
incredible rapidity.

"You don't belong to our society, then?" said Mrs. Seal.

"No, I'm afraid I don't," said Katharine, with such ready candor that
Mrs. Seal was nonplussed, and stared at her with a puzzled expression,
as if she could not classify her among the varieties of human beings
known to her.

"But surely," she began.

"Mrs. Seal is an enthusiast in these matters," said Mr. Clacton, almost
apologetically. "We have to remind her sometimes that others have a
right to their views