“Heard what? Tell me,” she said.

“I thought you knew. I really cannot tell you.”

“I never would believe anything about another woman, it is so cruel to one’s own self—so low, I think. Unless, of course, it were absolutely true, and then I should feel sorry.”

She uttered her words with a sublime air of pity.

“Yes; I know you would. Still, some women—”

“Some women?”

“Are queer.”

“Are they?” she inquired.

“Free—strange in their ideas of propriety. Miss Archer is, I think.”

“We all know that Canadians are free. Canada is not exactly a Republic—not a Monarchy. The country has no institutions, and that must affect the women—don’t you think so?”