"Your social position," continued Miss Morris volubly, "and the prestige which you as a bachelor of arts have brought home from college, make you a most natural candidate."
"Destiny really seems to be pointing to you," said Mrs. Atherton, with coaxing sweetness in her tone.
"Oh, but I couldn't think of it!" exclaimed Evelyn, recovering her courage. "I have had no experience in such matters! Why, that would be politics!—and I have always felt,—it has seemed to me,—I simply can't consider it!"
She had gained her composure now. She had been called a bachelor of arts, and she felt an impulse to laugh.
"Ah! we had expected that it would seem strange to you at first," said Mrs. Atherton, who appeared to be in charge of the grand strategy of the call, while Miss Morris carried the rapid firing guns and Mrs. Wingate lent moral support, as of a shore battery.
Mrs. Atherton had risen.
"We have all set our hearts on it, and you must not decline. Think it over well, and when you come to the first meeting of the Council in September, you will, I am sure, be convinced of your duty."
"Yes; a very solemn obligation that wealth and education have laid upon you," Miss Morris amplified.
"A solemn obligation," echoed Mrs. Wingate.
The three filed out, Miss Morris leading the way, while Mrs. Atherton lingeringly covered their retreat with a few words that were intended to convey a knowledge of the summer frivolities then pending.