“Mrs. Overman Hodge-Lathrop came down to appear in opposition to the woman’s-rights resolution!” She emphasized the word woman as if she would not for worlds have been a woman herself.
“Indeed!” exclaimed Miss Greene. “I am sure her appearance must have been a very convincing argument.” She gave her opponent another searching glance. Mrs. Overman Hodge-Lathrop was having difficulty in getting her breath.
“We have been having a taste of lobbying, Miss Greene,” she began, “and—”
“How unpleasant!” said she.
“You know, possibly,” said Mrs. Overman Hodge-Lathrop, regaining something of her position.
“Indeed I do,” Miss Greene assented sweetly, “but where it is in the line of one’s profession, duty obscures the unpleasantness. One can not, you know, always choose one’s occupation. Good morning!”
And catching her skirts, with a smile and a bow she left.
The successful lobbyists stood in silence a moment, looked one to another with wide and staring eyes. Then at last Mrs. Overman Hodge-Lathrop spoke.
“Morley,” she said, “I do wish you could learn to discriminate in your introductions.”