CHAPTER I. 



" Equality, my dear Lavinia ! Fiddlesticks ! You might 

 just as well talk of the equality of light and darkness as the 

 equality of men and women. Light and darkness, very use- 

 ful things in their way, but of course both capable of abuse ; 

 light enables us to get about our business, ' Who the day 

 for toil has given. For rest the night,' as the hymn says, 

 both useful as I say in their way, but by no stretch of ima- 

 gination can you put them on an equality. Man is man, 

 and will have man's functions and responsibilities to the 

 end of the chapter ; woman has hers, and it will take a 

 cleverer hand than yours to put the two on a par, and don't 

 you forget it." 



Hugo Badsworth, Master of the Cranston Hounds in 

 Dumpshire, at present in London on account of a spell of 

 frost, was the speaker ; he had been dining with his sister 

 in Portman Square, and was at the moment airing himself 

 in front of the fire, mounted apparently on an imaginary 

 horse, and airing his opinions at the same time. A hale, 

 hearty man of fifty, who hunted his hounds twice a week at 

 his own expense, did his duty as a magistrate and county 

 councillor, looked into all the matters of his estate, and 

 farmed one hundred and fifty acres. It goes without saying 

 that to be able to do all that, and do it well, he was a 

 wealthy as well as an active man. 



His sister Lavinia, fanning herself in a low chair, and 

 regarding her brother with an air of superiority (which was, 

 to say the least, aggravating), was five years his junior and 

 a spinster. Why she was living in single blessedness was 



I 



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