“No,” she said. “Not altogether for ornament. Every woman wears one.” She brushed her fingers across it; her smile was quizzical. “It is, in fact, well . . . it had become almost a symbol of what we girls are striving for. The virgins’ band. You see, it is quite unmarked. No man’s name is engraved there. I’ll explain in a moment.” “Our king, with twenty of his counsellors—my cousin Ren is one of them—rule the nation. They make no new laws. The old laws are good enough for them. The guards, you would call them police, are all the army we have. “They are all men, young, sturdy fellows who have no thought but to do what they are told. Which is right, of course. It is the laws which are wrong, inhuman. They are very old laws. They have now become customs, traditions, handed down from father to son.” Her tone was suddenly bitter. She gestured with a slim, expressive hand. “I must talk more calmly. These things against which we have now come to open rebellion, were doubtless necessary at the beginning. The laws were made by men who knew no better. “The difficulty is in the sex of our children. Out of three births, two on the average are females and only one a male. We have, therefore, twice as many females as males—twice as many women as men. Or at least, there would be twice as many if—” She checked herself again. “Thus we have . . . I think Ren said that on earth it was termed polygamy. A man may marry more than one woman.” Dolores said impulsively, “Oh, I would not like that! It used to be a custom in many parts of the earth, but there is almost none of it now.” “We girls of this generation do not like it either,” said Sonya. Her voice turned very grave. “What we are rebelling against is far worse. Often our girl children, if they seem not destined to be beautiful, are killed. The father does not wish the expense of too many girls. “Girls or women are never allowed to work. They must only strive to be beautiful. And when they have at last reached the proper age, to get rid of them by marriage, the father must pay a large tax to the state. “At the age of twenty a girl must choose one of the men who has recorded his name as desiring her. Any man is legally eligible to do that. He may have no wife as yet. Or he may have one wife, or several. If he has the necessary money for the tax, and deposits it with the government, his name is recorded. “You see,” she was cynical now, “the government needs the money. And it likes our girls to be beautiful. Fifty men may record their names as desiring a girl who is very beautiful. “She can choose but one man. But the government only refunds half the money the others have deposited. It makes a lot of money on a very beautiful girl.” “A sort of lottery!” I exclaimed. “With women as the prizes.” “I do not understand,” said Sonya. “But that is the way it is with us. Beautiful girls are profitable to the government. No girl-child who showed promise of beauty has ever been found murdered.