"It is where I was leading," said the Minor Poet. "Woman has been
appointed by Nature the trustee of the children. It is her duty to
think of them, to plan for them. If in marriage she does not take
the future into consideration, she is untrue to her trust."

"Before you go further," interrupted the Philosopher, "there is an
important point to be considered. Are children better or worse for
a pampered upbringing? Is not poverty often the best school?"

"It is what I always tell George," remarked the Woman of the World,
"when he grumbles at the tradesmen's books. If Papa could only have
seen his way to being a poor man, I feel I should have been a better
wife."

"Please don't suggest the possibility," I begged the Woman of the
World; "the thought is too bewildering."

"You were never imaginative," replied the Woman of the World.

"Not to that extent," I admitted.

"'The best mothers make the worst children,'" quoted the Girton
Girl. "I intend to bear that in mind."

"Your mother was a very beautiful character--one of the most
beautiful I ever knew," remarked the Old Maid.

"There is some truth in the saying," agreed the Minor Poet, "but
only because it is the exception; and Nature invariably puts forth