"What do you think about suffrage, Miss Geyer?"
Ernestine gave a hoarse laugh.
"I don't think much," she said succinctly.
Milly made some remarks on the subject, quoting freely from Hazel Fredericks on the injustices to women in this man-made world. Ernestine listened with a smile of sceptical amusement on her homely face, and slowly shook her head.
"There ain't much in that," she pronounced dogmatically. "The trouble ain't there. Any working-woman will tell you she ain't bothered much by lack of political power. We've got all the political powers we can use.... What does it amount to, anyhow? Things aren't done in this world by voting about 'em."
She easily threw down the feeble structure of Milly's arguments, which were largely borrowed from the talk she had heard the night before. Ernestine spoke with the assurance of one who has had reason to know.
"What women want is money, ain't it? Same as the men?" she demanded flatly.
"That's so!" Milly assented heartily.
"And they'll get it when they know how to do something somebody wants done as well as a man can. They do get it now when they've got something to give—that's truth!"
She gave Milly a brief account of her own struggles in the labor market, which interested Milly deeply.