He struck a match on his heel, lit the cigar and seated himself leisurely.
Waldron sat down opposite and began his attack without delay.
“Miss Holland has just informed me that you are unalterably opposed to woman’s suffrage?”
“Until I see it differently, I am,” was the tense reply.
“I take it then that it will be a waste of words for us to discuss that question?”
“Yes—and before we waste words on any other question I must ask whom you represent in this conference concerning my career?”
“I’ll tell you with pleasure,” was the quick answer. “I am perhaps the largest contributor to the cause of woman’s suffrage—”
“Do you believe in it?” Vassar interrupted sharply.
Waldron weighed his answer and spoke with metallic emphasis.
“Whether I do or do not is beside the mark for the moment. You have settled that issue between us, and my views are of no importance. I am pressing for a woman’s victory for a more important reason than my faith in her ballot or my lack of faith in its ultimate effects. The immediate result of women’s vote will be to make war remote. My big purpose is to prevent this nation from sinking into the abyss of militarism in which Europe now flounders—”