Right now the meeting adjourned, after the appointment of committees to draw up working plans. And as Mrs. Jinnie Cumming tottered out with the assistance of her maid, the ninety ladies followed in pairs, in trios, and groups; in grenadines, silks, buntings and bustles; in apricots, apples, peaches and plums; whereupon the young girl page and usher, Selina Wistar, slim and fair and aghast, beneath a wreath of strawberries and their blossoms, looked at her companion pages and ushers, Maud Allison beneath white grapes crystallized, and Adele Carter in her jaunty hat with cherries that didn't suit her.
"And we have to break it to Aunt Juanita and Mrs. Higginson!" said Selina. Tears were in her eyes. Tears of outrage and indignation! She seemed to have glimpsed something for her sex that loomed big and pertinent! And here was an end to it!
"Where's the telegram?" asked Maud tersely.
Selina produced and unfolded it and the three of them read it over:
Organization effected. Mrs. Cumming responsible. Congratulations. Our rights and our realms our platform.
"We can't send that," said Maud. "Give it to me."
She seized a pencil from the table and edited the message sternly.
Organization effected. Mrs. Cumming not responsible. Apologies. Our rights and our realms rejected.
At which light seemed to break upon Maud! And she saw things through a revealing sense of proportion. Glimpsed humor and truth which go to make proportion at last!