thought we were likely to have if we married."

"A nice girl ought not to think about such things."

"I don't think about anything else much. A woman can't do a great deal,
even nowadays, but she can have a conscience and feel that she owes
something to the future of the race. She can feel that it is her duty
to bring fine children into the world. As Aunt Lora says, she can carry
the torch and not falter."

Bailey shied like a startled horse at the hated phrase. He pointed
furiously at the photograph of the great thinker.

"You're talking like that--that damned woman!"

"Bailey _precious_! You mustn't use such wicked, wicked words."

Bailey rose, pink and wrathful.

"If you're going to break another vase," said Ruth, "you will really
have to go."

"Ever since that--that----" cried Bailey. "Ever since Aunt Lora----"

Ruth smiled indulgently.

"That's more like my little man," she said. "He knows as well as I do
how wrong it is to swear."

"Be quiet! Ever since Aunt Lora got hold of you, I say, you have become