the impressive Lord Curzon, to the perils of the Woman's
Vote, Mrs. Rossiter was hard to move from her uncompromising
opposition to the enfranchisement of her sex. Some adroit champion
of the Wrong had employed the argument that _once_ Women got the
vote, _the Divorce Laws would be greatly enlarged_. This would be
part of the scheme of the wild women to get themselves all married;
that and _the legalisation of Polygamy_ which would follow the Vote
_as surely as the night the day_. Linda had an undefined terror that
her Michael might take advantage of such licentiousness to depose
her, like the Empress Josephine was put aside in favour of a
child-producing rival; or if polygamy came into force, that Miss
Warren might lawfully share the Professor's affections.

She was therefore greatly perturbed in the course of 1916 at the
sudden throwing up of the sponge by the Anti-suffragists. However,
there it was. The long struggle drew to a victorious close. Example
as well as precept pointed to what women could do and were worth;
sound arguments followed the inconveniences of militancy, and the
men were convinced. Or rather, the men in the mass and the fighting,
working men had for some time been convinced, but the great
statesmen who had so obstinately opposed the measures were now
weakening at the knees before the results of their own mismanagement
in the conduct of the War.

A further perplexity and anxiety for Mrs. Rossiter arose over the
German spy mania. She had been to one of Lady Towcester's afternoon
parties "to keep up our spirits." Lady Towcester collected for at
least six different charities and funds, and Mrs. Rossiter was a
generous subscriber to all six. Touching the wood of the central
tea-table, she had remarked to Lady Victoria and Lady Helen
Freebooter how fortunate they (who lived within the prescribed area
defined by Lady Jeune) had been in so far escaping air-raids.

"But don't you know why?" said Lady Victoria.

Mrs. Rossiter didn't.

"Because in Manchester Square, in Cavendish--Grosvenor--Hanover
Squares, in Portland Place--a few doors off your own house--in
Harley Street and Wigmore Street: there are special friends of the
Kaiser living. They _may_ call themselves by English names, they may
even be ex-cabinet-ministers; but they are working for the Kaiser,
all the same. And _he_ wouldn't be such a fool as to have them
bombed, would he?"

"Especially as it is well known that there _is a wireless
i