"I am sure I should be delighted. But what Institute?"
"Don't you know?—in the Marylebone Road,—for relieving females from their disabilities."
"Do you mean Rights of Women? I don't think papa likes that," said Mary, looking round at her father.
"You haven't got to mind what papa likes and dislikes any more," said the Dean, laughing. "Whether you go in for the rights or the wrongs of women is past my caring for now. Lord George must look after that."
"I am sure Lord George could not object to your going to the Marylebone Institute," said Aunt Ju. "Lady Selina Protest is there every week, and Baroness Banmann, the delegate from Bavaria, is coming next Friday."
"You'd find the Disabilities awfully dull, Lady George," said Guss.
"Everybody is not so flighty as you are, my dear. Some people do sometimes think of serious things. And the Institute is not called the Disabilities."
"What is it all about?" said Mary.
"Only to empower women to take their own equal places in the world,—places equal to those occupied by men," said Aunt Ju eloquently. "Why should one-half of the world be ruled by the ipse dixit of the other?"
"Or fed by their labours?" said the Dean.