said Ideala.

"Neither am I," said Mrs. Kilroy. "I only wish I were. But she ignored
us all rather pointedly when she came in."

"To save herself from being ignored, I suppose," said Ideala bitterly.
"The girl is self-respecting."

"I confess I liked her the first time I saw her," said Mrs. Orton Beg;
"but afterwards, when I heard what her husband was, I felt forced to
ignore her. How can you countenance her if she approves?"

"It was a mistake to take her approval for granted," said Mrs. Kilroy.
"Ideala would have inquired."

"Yes," said Ideala. "I take nothing for granted. If I hear anything
nice, I believe it; but if I hear anything objectionable about any
one, I either inquire about it or refuse to believe it point-blank.
And in a case like this, I should be doubly particular, for, in one of
its many moods, genius is a young child that gazes hard and sees
nothing."

"And you really think the little woman is a genius, and will be a
great writer some day?" Mrs. Carne asked with exaggerated deference to
Ideala's opinion.

"I don't know about being a writer," said Ideala. "Genius is
versatile. There are many ways in which she might succeed. It depends
on herself--on the way she is finally impelled to choose. But great
she will be in something--if she lives."

"Let us hope that she will be a great benefactor of her own sex then,
and do great good," said the gentle Lady Fulda.

"Amen!" Ideala ejaculated fervently.

Mrs. Carne tried to put off her agreeable society smile and put on her
Sunday-in-church expression, but was not in time. When we only assume
an attitude once a week, be it mental or physical, we do not fall into
it readily on a sudden.

"Not that working for women as a career is what I should wish her for
her own comfort," said Ideala after a pause. "Women who work for women
in the present period of our progress--I mean the women who bring
about the changes which benefit their sex--must resign themselves to
martyrdom. Only the martyr spirit will carry them through. Men will
often help and respect them, but other women, especially the workers
with methods of their own, will make their lives a burden to them with
pin-pricks of criticism, and every petty hindrance they can put in
their way. There is little union between women workers, and less
tolerance. Each leader thinks her own idea the only good one, and
disapproves of every other. They seldom see that many must be working
in many ways to compl