Part 44 (1/2)

”Perfectly well and fit, thanks, captain,” said Drake. ”Will you have a cigar? Wind will just suit us, will it not?”

About the same time Nell's cab arrived at Wolfer House, Egerton Square.

There were several other cabs and carriages standing in a line opposite the house, and Nell's cab had to wait some little time before it could set her down; but at last she was able to alight, and a footman escorted her and her box into a large and rather gloomy hall. He seemed somewhat surprised by her box, and eyed her doubtfully as she inquired for Lady Wolfer.

”Lady Wolfer? Yes, miss. Her ladys.h.i.+p is in the dining room. The meeting is now on. Perhaps you had better walk in.”

Sharing the man's hesitation, Nell followed him to the door. As he opened it, the sound of a woman's voice, thin, yet insistent and rasping, came out to meet her. She saw that the room was crowded. Nearly all who were present were women--women of various ages, but all with some peculiarity of manner or dress which struck Nell at the very first moment. But there were some men present--men with fat and rather flabby faces, men small and feeble in appearance, men long-haired and smooth-shaven.

At the end of the room, behind a small table, stood a woman, still young, dressed in a tailor-made suit of masculine pattern and cut. Her hair was pretty in color and texture, but it was cut almost close, and just touched the collar of her covert coat. She wore a bowler hat, her gloves were on the table in front of her--thick, dogskin gloves, like a man's. She held a roll of paper in her hand, which was bare of rings, though feminine enough in size and shape. A pince-nez was balanced on her nose, and her chin--really a pretty chin--was held high in an aggressive manner.

Nell had an idea that this was Lady Wolfer, and she edged as close to the wall as she could, and watched and listened to the speaker with a natural curiosity and anxiety.

”To conclude,” the orator was saying, with a wave of the roll of paper and a jerk of the chin, ”to conclude, we are banded together to wage a war against our old tyrant--a war of equity and right. Oh, my sisters, do not let us falter, do not let us return the sword to the scabbard until we have cleaved our way to that goal toward which the eyes of suffering womanhood have been drawn since the gospel of equal rights for both s.e.xes sounded its first evangel!”

It was evidently the close, the peroration, of the speech; there was a burst of applause, much clapping of hands, and immediately afterward a kind of stampede to some tables, behind which a couple of footmen were preparing to dispense light refreshments.

Nell, much mystified, and rather shy and frightened, remained where she was; and she was just upon the point of inquiring for Lady Wolfer, when the recent speaker came down the room, talking with one and another of the presumably less hungry mob, and catching sight of Nell's slight and rather shrinking figure, advanced toward her.

”This is a new disciple, I suppose,” she said, smiling through her eyegla.s.ses.

”I--I wish to see Lady Wolfer,” said Nell, trying not to blush.

”I am Lady Wolfer,” said the youngish lady with the short hair and mannish suit; and she spoke in a gentler voice than Nell would have been inclined to credit her with.

”I am--I am Nell Lorton.”

Lady Wolfer looked puzzled for a moment; then she laughed and held out her hand.

”Really? Why, how young and----” She was going to say ”pretty,” but stopped in time. ”Did you wire? But of course you did. I must have forgotten. I have such a ma.s.s of correspondence!” She laughed again. ”I thought you were a new disciple! Come with me!”

And, with what struck Nell as scant courtesy, her ladys.h.i.+p left the other ladies, took her by the hand, and led her out of the room.

CHAPTER XX.

Lady Wolfer led Nell to her ladys.h.i.+p's own room. It was as unlike a boudoir as it well could be; for the furniture was of the simplest kind, and in place of the elegant trifles with which the fair s.e.x usually delight to surround themselves, the tables, the couch, and even the chairs were littered with solid-looking volumes, blue books, pamphlets, and sheets of ma.n.u.script paper.

There was a piano, it is true; but its top was loaded with handbills and posters announcing meetings, and the dust lay thick on its lid. The writing table was better suited to an office than a lady's ”own room,”

and it was strewn with the prevailing litter.

Lady Wolfer cleared a chair by sweeping the books from it, and gently pushed Nell into it.

”Now, you sit down for a moment while I ring for a maid to take you to your room. Heaven only knows where it is, or in what condition you will find it! You see, I quite forgot you were coming. Candid, isn't it? But I'm always candid, and I begin at once with you. By the way, oughtn't you to have come earlier--or later?”

Nell explained that she had had her breakfast at the station, and spent an hour in the waiting room, so as not to present herself too early.

”How thoughtful of you!” said Lady Wolfer. ”You don't look--you look so young and--girlish.”