“O, well, the men have,” I admitted; “I belong to one such organization myself,—the City Guards.”
“And you guard the city?”
“No; there is nothing to guard it against at present. It’s a ‘sentiment,’ as you say.”
“And do you parade?”
“Yes, of course, upon occasion,—there are certain great anniversaries in our nation’s history when we appear.”
“And why not your women?”
I smiled to myself, as I tried to fancy some of the New York ladies I knew, arrayed in gorgeous habiliments for an equestrian exhibition on Broadway. I replied,
“Really, Severnius, the idea is entirely new to me. I think they would regard it as highly absurd.”
“Do they regard you as absurd?” he asked, in that way of his which I was often in doubt about, not knowing whether he was in earnest or not.