"Don't talk to me about being reasonable. I'm one of the few reasonable beings left in this town."
"Well, that kind of reason is out of fashion now. You've got to share our reasons, Martin. Women have a rationality you men do not recognize; now you've got to."
"I will not! But suppose I do?"
"You'll get immediate relief from your present financial pressure, for one thing."
"Tell that to the marines!"
"Very well. I'll stand between you and—and ruin as long as I can, but if you don't give in I can't save you!" she whimpered.
"And what about Thad Bailey and Baldwin and Saddler and all the other merchants?" he asked curiously, with his nose pointed like a terrier who smells a rat.
"The sooner you or somebody persuades them to go to Judge Regis and make the same agreement, the sooner you'll get what you want," she replied.
"And what we don't want! Do you think for a moment the men in this county would give women the vote even if they could, Mabel?"
"I don't think about it, Martin, I know you are going to be forced to do it, and I want you to give in before it is too late to save your credit; you'll be a day labourer before you know it if you don't listen to reason," she concluded tearfully.