The "shanty" was clean and airy, with well-scoured floors, but the remains of lunch on the table certainly did not look very inviting,—a few transparent slices of Gruyère cheese, which seemed to have been all holes, some uninteresting-looking biscuits, and doubtful sausage.
"Have you coffee and eggs?" asked the Sahib. "Ah—that will do, won't it?"
"Coffee and eggs are food for the gods," said Mona.
"Or would be, if they did not spoil their appetites with nectar and ambrosia," he corrected; and they laughed and talked over the impromptu meal like a couple of children.
"How many ladies are there studying medicine just now?" asked the Sahib as they walked slowly homewards.
"Women? I don't quite know. About a hundred in the country, I should think."
"And what do the—I am afraid I had almost said the stronger sex—say to this infringement of their imagined rights?"
Mona looked at his stalwart, athletic figure.
"Pray don't apologise for calling them the stronger sex to me," she said, laughing. "I am not at all disposed to try my strength against yours. Oh, of course there was immense opposition at first. That is matter of history now. But it would be difficult to exaggerate the kindness and helpfulness of most of the younger men; and a few of the older ones have been heroes all along."
"That is a 'good hearing.' Then do you think it could all have been managed without opposition, by dint of a little waiting?"