The Irish standard., 1896-02-15

can't SEQ how they are ever going to be
able to make peace between the sec.
tions."
"Is Miss Bradfern SO very pronounced
in her views % asked Ringbrand.
81 think she is; and I fear she is much
the stronger of the two"
"Is that always a naisfortune?"
"Possibly not; but it seems SO to me.
It implies surrender on the part of the
husband, and that's pitiable thing to
contemplate"
"Do you think so? I should say that
such surrender might be very noble
under some circumstances"
81 can't imagine the circumstances.
What are they?"
deeper into the subject than he had
meant to go. but he laid hold of his
courage and spoke the thought that
was in him. II mean when q man has
been fortunate enough to find the one
woman in the world with whom he can
share all things" He said it quietly,
trying to keep the vibrant note Of pas
sion out of his voice.
She did not reply at once, and when
she did there was no sign that she had
taken his answer in any sense other
than as an abstract statement of fact.
"Even then think you are wrong" she
said. ''It doesn't seem possible to me
that any woman could accept. such q
sacrifice and retain her respect for the
man who made it; does it to you?"
II had never thought of it as being
homage which loyal subject would
give freely to the one whom he had en-
throned."
She looked at him in doubt. II can
never tell when you are in earnest and
when you are trying to be satirical.''
s"Oh, beg you to believe wouldn't
fest upon such serious subject" he
hastened to say.
! ..Ihen can't understand your posi-
tion atall. You-you write about wcnl-
en-, and you should understand them
better than that. Isn'tit true that even
the strongest woman prefers to look up
rather than down, it her husband be
noble and brave and generally worth
looking up to?"
Ringbrand WINGED, for had he not
signed his name to certain narrative
in which the motive turned upon the
theory that deep in the heart of every
woman there dwe1ls an unspoken desire
to be dominated? He smiled at his un-
conscious mendacity and wondered why
it is that man who chances to be III
love cannot apply the wisdom of other
days to the solution of his own riddles.
perhaps you are right, after all, !" he
said, musingly. ssNow that you recall
1t, it seems quite possible that I may at
one time have held and expressed such
a view myself. Your proviso, however,
helps my side of the question
in what way?"
'By asking for q rare combination of
virtues in the man."
+ s'How do you mean ?'',
"You said he should be noble and
brave and generally worth looking up
to-" 's-'.asE
"'Are those qualities rare?''
Rare enough, fear. I think there
are not many of us who could fill the re-
quirements. But to return to Miss
Bradfern: You think she will be on the
governing hand. do you?'
Perhaps not quite that, but I'm very
sure she has some shall we call them
convictions THAT will. make Mr.. Ra-
leigh very uncomfortable. One Of them
is the idea that it is part of her miss
sion to bring about the social recoy
milton of the negroes She said mig
gers but the provincialism bore no
contemptuous accent.
The remark caught Ringbrand off his
guard and he said: There is room for
reform along that line, isn't there p
THAT depends very much upon the
point of view" Hester drew herself up
and shade Of austerity came into her
manner. "Tm not quite sure how yo,,
regard it in the north, though papa SAYS
/, you make no distinction4-or, atsleast,
not very much. With ,ls sthe question
has been definitely settled for a long
time sSs, Il. 80 S
He was besotted enough to try t.,
argue the point with her q ooni' t you
think that much Of the ,objec ton 70 SOC
sisscial equal on the score of the color
d IS n, AZ ssked
sif ne