"I don't go with you, Dale," said Mr. Cobbe; "I'll back up some of our own women against them for monopoly of that sort."
"I am at one with you, Mr. Dale," said Mrs. Gower, "for this reason: from the time an American woman can lisp, she is taught the cardinal ideas of the country, viz., liberty and equality."
"From your standpoint, Mrs. Gower, your sex should be all Republicans," said Mr. Dale. "What countryman are you, Mr. Blair?"
"A pure and unadulterated Scotchman; and I hope you like the land o' bagpipes, heather and oatcakes sufficiently as to like me none the less."
"No; for was I not English, I would be Scotch."
"And I," said Mrs. Dale, "would have liked you better were you Irish-American."
"You are candid, at all events," he said, smiling.
"You had better live as near perfection as possible, by remaining in Canada, Mr. Blair," said his hostess, rising from the table. "Come, Ella, we shall leave them to their cigarettes and the subjects nearest their hearts."
"You are one of the most thoughtful women I have ever met," said Dale, drawing the hangings for their exit; "but our smoke will be but a passing cloud; we shall soon sun ourselves in your presence."
"Listen to him," said his wife, merrily; "don't I bring him up well."