'Very well done. Yes; very well,' thought Earle. 'But I should like to see her at home, if such an exploded word forms part of a strong-minded woman's vocabulary.'
There was a slight good-humoured sarcasm and irony underlying the seriousness of Miss Stirling's speech, if speech it could be called, which prevented it from becoming wearisome, and no one was anxious for her to bring what she had to say to a close. She ended amidst quite a storm of applause.
Mrs De Lacy turned to Earle in a high state of delight: 'Now, Mr Earle, what do you say to her? Surely, surely you are converted now.'
'To what, Mrs De Lacy?'
'Oh! to—to—woman's right to the suffrage.'
'I did not doubt before that she had a right to the suffrage.'
'Did not you? Well, now, I thought you were an enemy to woman's progress.'
'I assure you, you thought quite wrong.'
'Really! Well, then, what is it you object to?'