"What could she say? Look
at what she does! And how beautifully--how perfectly--she does it! I
would wager now--_may_ I try an experiment Mrs. Porne?" and she stood
up, taking out her handkerchief.
"Certainly," said Mrs. Porne, "with pleasure! You won't find any!"
Mrs. Dankshire climbed heavily upon a carefully selected chair and
passed her large clean plain-hemmed handkerchief across the top of a
picture.
"I knew it!" she proclaimed proudly from her eminence, and showed the
cloth still white. "That," she continued in ponderous descent, "that is
Knowledge, Ability and Conscience!"
"I don't see how she gets the time!" breathed Mrs. Ree, shaking her head
in awed amazement, and reflecting that she would not dare trust Mrs.
Dankshire's handkerchief on her picture tops.
"We must have her address the Club," the president repeated. "It will
do worlds of good. Let me see--a paper on--we might say 'On the True
Nature of Domestic Industry.' How does that strike you, Mrs. Ree?"
"Admirable!" said Mrs. Ree. "So strong! so succinct."
"That certainly covers the subject," said Mrs. Porne. "Why don't you
ask her?"
"We will. We have come for that purpose. But we felt it right to ask
you about it first," said Mrs. Dankshire.
"Why I have no control over Miss Bell's movements, outside of working
hours," answered Mrs. Porne. "And I don't see that it would make any
difference to our relations.
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