“Ah!” Ethel exclaimed, deeply interested.
“A great idea!” said grandma. “America ought to have a hall like that at Lincoln Park. We have our heroines, too—it would be full in little time!”
“Madame Rowrer is right,” said the duke. “To be a heroine there is no need to fight, sword in hand; the fulfilment of the civil and moral virtues makes heroines, and devotedness and love have their own martyrs. But I am going to show you an old engraving of the Hall.”
The duke rose and searched in a portfolio.
“Two characteristic features,” he continued, “strike one in feudalism: individual energy and improvement in the condition of women. When Duke Enguerrand went forth to look for war and adventures, my ancestress, Bertha, remained in Morgania as the duke’s representative, clothed with the right of administering justice, and charged, during his absence, with the defense and honor of the country. Such sovereign power often gave to the women of that time virtues which they had no opportunity of exercising otherwise.
“When the knights and men-at-arms were gone to the Holy Land, only the women remained at home. Then Hungary was invaded by the Mongols, who ravaged everything down to the Adriatic. Morgania was on the point of perishing; but Bertha the Horsewoman, as the people called her ever after, scoured the country the whole winter long, leading convoys, and bringing in supplies from Italy and mercenaries from Germany. Thus she repelled the Mongols and saved Morgania from invasion, and the people from famine.
“When the duke came back he found Morgania in mourning, for the duchess had died at her task. Saint Morgana, the heroic ancestress, already had her altars. The duke wished to consecrate the glory of the others as well; and he built the Hall so that henceforth the people might gather around their images under the saint’s protection. Dying he expressed a wish that his descendants should dedicate the Hall to the glory of their women. Here is the engraving,” the duke said, turning toward Miss Rowrer and grandma.
“‘Here is the engraving’”