"I am narrow-minded," she said at last. "I wish that any power, human or divine, would prevent all women from studying medicine till they are twenty-three, and any woman from studying it at all, unless she has some one qualification, physical, mental, moral, or social, for the work. These remarks do not come very aptly from one who has been twice ploughed, but we are among friends." "Well, dear," said Doris thoughtfully, "there were a few students at the School to-day whom one could have wished to see--elsewhere; but on the whole, they struck me as a party of happy, healthy, sensible, hard-working girls." "Did they?" said Mona eagerly; "I am very glad." "Yes, assuredly they did, and a few of them seemed to be really remarkable women." "Oh yes! the exceptions are all right; but tell me about your visit. I wish you could have gone in summer, when they are sitting about in the garden with books and bones, and materia medica specimens." "Two of them were playing tennis when I went in--playing uncommonly well too. We watched them for a while, and then we went to the dissecting-room." "Well?" "I am very glad you told me what you did about it--very. I think if I had gone quite unprepared I might have found it very ghastly and very awful. It is painful, of course, but it is intensely interesting. The demonstrator is such a nice girl. She took me round and showed me the best dissections; I had no idea the things looked like that. Do you know"--Doris waxed triumphant--"I know what fascia is, and I know a tendon from a nerve, and both from a vein." "You have done well. Some of us who have worked for years cannot say as much--in a difficult case." "Don't mock me; you know what I mean. Oh, Mona, how you can be in London and not go back to your work is more than I can imagine." "Yes? That is interesting, but not strictly to the point. What did you do when you left the dissecting-room?" "Attended a physiology lecture, delivered by a young man who kept his eyes on the ceiling, and never moved a muscle of his face, unless it was absolutely necessary." "I know," said Mona, laughing; "but he knew exactly what was going on in the room all the time, and was doubtless wondering who the new and intelligent student was. He is delightful." "He seemed nice," said Doris judicially, "and he certainly was very clever; but it would be much better to have women lecturers." "That's true. But not unless they did the work every whit as well as men. You must not forget, dear, that a good laundress helps on the 'cause' of women better than a bad doctor or lecturer." "Oh, I know that. But there must be plenty of women capable of lecturing on physiology." Mona shrugged her shoulders. "More things go to making a good physiology lecturer than you imagine,--a great many more," she added impressively. Doris's face flushed. "Not vivisection!" she exclaimed.