corner of her dwelling, and even old things looked different in the
new light. Not the least of these impressions was due to the new
friendships; women whose life-work was farthest from her own, whose
point of view was diametrically opposite to hers, suddenly drew up
beside her in the march as comrades. She felt as if she had got a
wider outlook over the world, as if in her upward climb she had
reached a spur on the hillside, and a new view of the landscape
spread itself at her feet.

"As she had once said, fate had placed her in the van of a great
movement, but she herself clung to old forms and old ways--a new
thing she instinctively avoided. It took her long to adjust herself
to a new point of view. But here, in this absorbing interest, she
forgot everything but the object. Her eyes had suddenly been opened
to what it meant to be a citizen of Britain, and in the
overpowering sense of responsibility that came with the revelation
her timorous clinging to old ways had slackened.

"Not the least part of the interest of the new life was the feeling
of being at the centre of things. People whose names had been
household words since babyhood became living entities. She not only
saw the men and women who were moulding our generation: she met
them at tea, she talked intimately with them at dinners, and she
actually argued with them at Council meetings."


Thus Elsie Inglis describes in her writings her heroine Hildeguard's
entrance into "the great crusade." The description may be taken as true
of her own feelings when caught by the ideal of the movement.