of race less obviously than some of the French or Germans or
Italians; but they have a deeper sense of their own dignity, and
of what is due to it, than any of your more flighty and
picturesque continentals. There are certain things that are
done. Certain things are not done. One must conform or----"

She interrupted herself and delicately flicked the ash from her
cigarette.

"Conform, or be jolly well damned," she finished, crossing one
leg over the other and leaning back in her chair. "This, by the
way, is the only decent cigarette I have found in America. I
hate to smoke perfume--I like tobacco--and most of your shops
seem to keep nothing but the highly scented Turkish and Egyptian
varieties."

"They were made in London," said Cleggett, bowing.

"Ah! But where was I? Oh, yes--one must conform. Especially if
one belongs to, or has married into, the Claiborne family. Of
all the men in England the Earl of Claiborne is the most
conservative, the most reactionary, the most deeply encrusted
with prejudice. He would stop at little where the question
concerned the prestige of the aristocracy in general; he would
stop at nothing where the Claiborne family is concerned.

"I am telling you all this so that you may get an inkling of the
blow it was to him when I became a militant suffragist. It was
blow enough to his nephew, Sir Archibald, my late husband. The
Earl maintains that it hastened poor Archibald's death. But that