"Eh! I beg your pardon?"
"Don't apologize; to try the candidates who wish to be Old Maids."
"Try them! No, no! I'm afraid I should be prejudiced against bringing them in innocent."
"Don't be silly. You know what I mean. I could not tell so well as you whether they possessed the true apostolic spirit. You are a man—your instinct would be truer than mine. Whenever a new candidate applies, I want you to come up and see her."
"Really, Miss Dulcimer, I—I can't tell by looking at her!"
"No, but you can by her looking at you."
"You exaggerate my insight."
"Not at all. It is most important that something of the kind should be done. By the rules, all the Old Maids must be young and beautiful. And it requires a high degree of will and intelligence——"
"To be both!"
"For such to give themselves body and soul to the cause. Every Old Maid is double-faced till she has been proved single-hearted."