nd to be beloved--to wear pretty toilettes and to be
admired; and you have a creed which satisfies you, and which you
believe in without proofs."

There was the slightest possible tinge of mockery in his voice as he
said these words. A tumultuous rush of feelings overcame me. My high
dreams of ambition, my innate scorn of the trite and commonplace, my
deep love of art, my desires of fame--all these things bore down upon
my heart and overcame it, and a pride too deep for tears arose in me
and found utterance.

"You think I am so slight and weak a thing!" I exclaimed. "YOU, who
profess to understand the secrets of electricity--you have no better
instinctive knowledge of me than that! Do you deem women all alike--all
on one common level, fit for nothing but to be the toys or drudges of
men? Can you not realize that there are some among them who despise the
inanities of everyday life--who care nothing for the routine of
society, and whose hearts are filled with cravings that no mere human
love or life can satisfy? Yes--even weak women are capable of
greatness; and if we do sometimes dream of what we cannot accomplish
through lack of the physical force necessary for large achievements,
that is not our fault but our misfortune. We did not create ourselves.
We did not ask to be born with the over-sensitiveness, the fatal
delicacy, the highly-strung nervousness of the feminine nature.
Monsieur Heliobas, you are a learned and far-seeing man, I have no
doubt; but you do not read me aright if you judge me as a mere woman
who is perfectly contented with the petty commonplaces of ordinary
living. And as for my creed, what is it to you whether I kneel in the
silence of my own room or in the glory of a lighted cathedral to pour
out my very soul to ONE whom I know exists, and whom I am satisfied to
believe in, as you say, without proofs, save such proofs as I obtain
from my own inner consciousness? I tell you, though, in your opinion it
is evident my sex is against me, I would rather die than sink into the
miserable nonentity of such lives as are lived by the majority of
women."

I paused, overcome by my own feelings. Heliobas smiled.

"So! You are stung!" he said quietly; "stung into action. That is as it
should be. Resume your seat, mademoiselle, and do not be angry with me.
I am studying you for your own good. In the meantime permit me to
analyze your words a little. You are young and inexperienced. You speak
of the 'over-sensi