The Convert

trance, Mrs. Fox-Moore thought her sister had also given up the idea. But as Vida afterwards confessed, she told herself that she would go 'just once more.' It could not be but what she

ut, had gone on with its routine, precisely as though nothing had happened. Had anything happened? That was the question. The papers couldn't answer. They were given over to lies. T

vering's aspect seemed to say-no recurrence of any undignified flight. She had been frightened away f

ad no misgiving about taking the woman into her confidence. But Wark, with lightning rapidity, had become Mrs. Anderson Slynes, and was beyond recall. So the new maid was told the followi

apparition on their way, of a flaming banner bearing, along with a demand for the vote, an outrageous cha

he side of an uncovered van. A little crowd of perhaps a hundred collected on one side of the cart-the loafers on the outermost fringe, lying on the grass. Never a si

upon a young mother wheeling a perambulator. She had glanced with mild curiosity at the

man Question,' Miss Levering observ

a bootiful angel, isn't Doddy?' said t

solution,' said the

the cart, read demand and denunciation on the banner

with a white-haired lady of distinguished aspect, who held up

k. '"We demand the vote." Fancy! They "demand" it. What awful ch

incongruity in the attitude of those two quite commonplace, everyday members of

lm to moderate the insolence of the budding male. Still there was no sign either of Mrs. Chisholm or any

he discreet maid. 'We'll rest here a moment,'

years among the upper classes, had found little imitation among tradesmen or working people. They presumably were still too near the difficulty of keeping their children in shoes and stockings, to be able to see anything but a confession of failure in going without. In the same way, the 'Simple

hild, and wondering a little at the

se tell me the

tch, and then spoke of the wi

rth prolonging the discussion upon health and education for the amusement there would be in seeing what form condemnation of the Suffragettes took among people of this kind. By turning her head to one side, out of the tail of her eye the lady could see that an excitement of some sort was agitating the crowd. The voices rose more shrill. Peop

nce of this excellent bourgeoise she felt an absurd constraint in showin

nt the mother of the chil

ing to begin!'

ked Miss

Suffrage

going to li

ay for.' And she and her bare-legged o

mplete detachment she approached the edge of the crowd, followed by the supercilious maid. They were quickly hemmed in by people who seemed to spring up out of the ground.

an was, still more incongruous showed there the relation of mistress and maid. The punctilious Gorringe was plainly horrified at the proximity to her mistress of these canaille, and the mistress was not so absorbed it would see

contact with a grimy tramp. And, again, when half a dozen boys forced their way past, 'It's all rig

ringe knew it. 'The old man is

Levering politely suggeste

ft for a mere bystander-it was

thy muddy, 'm,' w

t no section of the modern community is so scornfully aristocratic as our servants. Their horror of the meanly-apparelled and the humble is beyond the scorn of kings. The fine

e and held her nose high in the air, the gentl

or speakers to-day, for two of them were younger even than Miss Claxt

y young girls up there to be

the maid, but with the air of 'Wha

ones!' pursued Miss Levering, as she looked in vain for any sign of flinchin

ked like mere indifference? It couldn't be that those quiet-looking young girls were indifferent to the ordeal of standing up there before a crowd of jeering ro

face of a fire of interruption, took the form of an attack upon the Government, showed her an alert, competent, cut-and-thrust, imperturbably self-possessed politician, who knew every aspect of the history of the movement, as able to answer any intellig

d by either booing or applause. When a knot of young men, who had pushed their way near the front, kep

ease,' she said. 'These peop

They come to see

tay.' Then, as the interrupter began again, 'No, it's no use, my man'-she

like a woman!' he co

e inquired of the men around him, in a great jovial voice, 'Are we down-'earted?' as though the meeting had been called, not for the purpose of rousing interest in the question of woman's share in

en saying that the demand on the part of women for political recognition commanded their respect, and would have their support, and yet there were four hundred and odd m

t pa

'We have members of ev

a Conse

f am not a C

r the Labour

confiding that when a candidate said he was in favour of Woman's Suffrage (he was usually a Liberal), we worked like slaves to get that man elected, so that a voice might be raised for women's interests in the next Parliament. Again and again the man we worked for got in. But the voice that was to speak for us-that voice was mute. We had served his purpose in helping him to win his sea

Liberals? Why don't you ask the C

s; and so we go to the Liberals. And we shall continue to go to them. We shall never leave off' (boos and groans) 'till they leave office. Then we'

fronting her. She answered the query by introducing the resolution in an earnest little speech which, if it didn't show that much of the failure and suffering that darken the face of the world is due to women's false position, showed, at all events, that this young creature held a burning conviction that the subjection of her sex was the world's Root-

"out of order." If treating the women of the country fairly is out of order, it is on

um received its due

rd for defending the

omptly, 'for soldiers

for military service

'it ought to imply merely a stake in th

oldiering, till the speak

and a woman can pull a trigger as well as a man. The Boer women found that out-and so has the Russian. I don't like thinking abou

woman can't nev

nd that'-she came nearer, and leaned over the side of the cart with scared face-'it's that that makes it so dreadful to realize how at last when women'

s!' some one

g and spitting,

g, 'Wot's the matter with yer anyway? Can't yer get a husband?' and such-like brilliant relevancies. Although she flushed at some of these

it wouldn't have been left for a minx like you

cently invented.' The child seemed in her loneliness to reach o

s Mi

l and she were drowned together. She waited

do with yer if 'e'd though

As long ago as 1870, a Woman's Suffrage Bill that was drafted

t of women ne

were women like Florence Nightingale, and Harriet Martineau, and Josephine Butle

ould not hear, but that brought the

of the men were denou

f I didn't see over there the Reformer's Tree. It makes me think of how much had to be borne before other changes could be brought about.' She reminded

were

red-though you think meanly of us because we can't be soldiers, you may as well know we are ready to do whatever has to be done-we are

ppeal for justice, and admission to the Commons-a girl pouring out this stream of vigorous English, upholding the cause her family had stood for. Her voice failed her a little towards the close, or rather it did not so much fail as betray to any sensitive listener the degree of strain she put upon it to make it carry above laughter and interjection. As she raised the note she bent over the crowd, leaning forward, with her neck outstretched, the cords in it swelling

e out of their graves to-day and see how their descendants use the great privileges they won-I believe

r!' 'Right

y, and found friendly hands stre

al accent and the briskness of a cock-sparrow, whose prett

pitching her rather thin v

piped in mimicry; and the

squeals of delight. Each time she began afresh she was met by the shrill echo of her own voice. The contest went on for several minutes. The spectacle of the agitated little f

ce indistinguishable in the confusi

w k

think they cou

nvert every man with

and 'Hea

see y

to it a bibulous gentleman, who kept calling out, 'Oh, the pretty dear!' to the rapture of the bystanders. He became so elevated that the poli

e you goin'

never goi

ulations of centuries on me, and I'm only just beginning to unload! Alt

' said a sad-faced gentl

olerable,' said a m

ought to b

ed out of

ng round among all the women I know getti

re and tell us th

t be women, but men, who get up the next monster p

od of jeers, and rose to

the vote! Yes, you'd better be seeing about that petition, my friends, f

ey'd give y

and she came to the top once more,

st better keep

e our eyes

men are at work or sitting in the public-house, we are visiting the women

of what not to say!' remarked a

ng the speaker again

such a revolution as t

bash her he

utside the pale of the law. If we are outside the law, we can't break

id a voice in mock a

an't help it,

e, what would you do wi

do!' and she turned the laugh. 'Look at you! L

though they had all along supposed looking at them t

u know nothing about and care nothing about-a war that some of us knew only too much about, and wanted only to see abandoned. We see constantly how you men either misuse the power you have or you don't use it at all. Do

till some one called out,

on't be good you won't

personalities. In vain she tried to recover that thread of attention which, no

the crowd for its un-English behaviour

stick. 'Will you just te

that it is a great and rare pleasure to have any that are intelligent. Don't waste anything so preci

said with some significance. She added her mite of testimony to that of the 96,000 organized women of the mills, that the workers

t's very 'ard on women that there isn't the same cheap lodgin'-'ouse accommodation fur single women as there is fur sing

pressed responsibility. She was spared the humiliating knowledge, but she was taken at first for a sympathizer with the Cause. In manners she was precisely like what the Suffragette was at that time expected to be, pushing her way through the crowd, and vociferating 'Shyme!' to all and sundry. The men who had been pleasantly occupied in boo-ing the speaker turned and glared at her. The hang

sed to jostle her. They even allowed her to get in front of them. The tall, rusty woman in the cart was meanwhile telling a story of personal experience of the operation of some law which shut out from any share in the benefits of the new Act which regulates the feeding of school children,

d. 'I don't doubt the poor soul has had some difficulty, some

from misapprehension upon so grave a point, there was a rude eloquence tha

like the law seems to think a child's got only one parent. I'd like to tell them gentlemen that makes the laws that (it may be different in t

re's some o' them young o

you had a re

es,' she was sayi

e she goes

. But if a man dies-you see it on every side, in 'Ackney-the widow takes in sewin', or goes out charin', or does other people's washin' as well as 'er own, or she mykes boxes-something er ruther

a good while. You must be n

idows. In England they do worse th

t, with the pinched p

s in this country let's give up 'eathin ways. Let the mothers o' this country 'ave their 'ands untied. We're willin' to work for our children, but

y-a little out of sympathy, a good deal from relief that she had finished