her lending the same willing and enchanted ear to the eloquence
of flattery as she did on the occasion of the first. What can the
exhortations of the strong-minded sister, who has never had these
experiences, do for such a woman? It is useless to tell her she is man's
victim, that she is his plaything, that she is cheated, down-trodden,
kept under, laughed at, shabbily treated in every way--that is not a
true statement of the case. She is simply the victim of her own vanity,
and against that, against the belief in her own fascinations, against
the very part of herself that gives all the colour to her life, who
shall expect a woman to take up arms?"

"Are you so vain, Elizabeth?" inquired Irais with a shocked face, "and
had you lent a willing ear to the blandishments of ninety-nine before
you reached your final destiny?"

"I am one of the sensible ones, I suppose," I replied, "for nobody ever
wanted me to listen to blandishments."

Minora sighed.

"I like to hear you talk together about the position of women," he
went on, "and wonder when you will realise that they hold exactly
the position they are fitted for. As soon as they are fit to occupy
a better, no power on earth will be able to keep them out of it.
Meanwhile, let me warn you that, as things now are, only strong-minded
women wish to see you the equals of men, and the strong-minded are
invariably plain. The pretty ones would rather see men their slaves than
their equals."

"You know," said Irais, frowning, "that I consider myself
strong-minded."

"And never rise till lunch-time?"

Irais blushed. Although I don't approve of such conduct, it is very
convenient in more ways than one; I get through my housekeeping
undisturbed, and whenever she is disposed to lecture me, I begin about
this habit of hers. Her conscience must be terribly stricken on the
point, for she is by no means as a rule given to meekness.

"A woman without vanity would be unattackable," resumed the Man of
Wrath. "When a girl enters that downward path that leads to ruin, she
is led solely by her own vanity; for in these days of policemen no young
woman can be forced against her will from the path of virtue, and the
cries of the injured are never heard until the destroyer begins to
express his penitence for having destroyed. If his passion could
remain at white-heat and he could continue to feed her ear with the
protestations she loves, no principles of piety or virtue would disturb
the