'_What!_' ejaculated her sister. 'They haven't really got that on a banner!' And so intrigued was she that, like some shy creature dwelling in a shell, cautiously she protruded her head out of the shiny, black sheath of the hansom. But as she did so she met the innocent eye of a passer-by, tired of craning his neck to look back at the meeting. With precipitation Mrs. Fox-Moore withdrew into the innermost recesses of the black shell. 'Come, Janet,' said Vida, who had meanwhile jumped out and settled the fare. 'Did that man know us?' asked the other, lifting up the flap from the back window of the hansom and peering out. 'No, I don't think so.' 'He stared, Vida. He certainly stared very hard.' Still she hesitated, clinging to the friendly shelter of the hansom. 'Oh, come on! He only stared because---- He took you for a Suffragette!' But the indiscretion lit so angry a light in the lady's eye, that Vida was fain to add, 'No, no, do come--and I'll tell you what he was really looking at.' 'What?' said Mrs. Fox-Moore, putting out her head again. 'He was struck,' said Vida, biting her lip to repress smiles, 'by the hat of the Woman of the People.' But the lady was too entirely satisfied with her hat to mind Vida's poking fun at it. '"Effingham, the Enemy!"' Mrs. Fox-Moore read for herself as they approached the flaunting red banner. 'How perfectly outrageous!' 'How perfectly _silly_!' amended the other, 'when one thinks of that kind and charming Pillar of Excellence!' 'I told you they were mad as well as bad.' 'I know; and now we're going to watch them prove it. Come on.' 'Why, they've stopped the fountains!' Mrs. Fox-Moore spoke as though detecting an additional proof of turpitude. 'Those two policemen,' she went on, in a whisper, 'why are they looking at _us_ like that?' Vida glanced at the men. Their eyes were certainly fixed on the two ladies in a curious, direct fashion, not exactly impudent, but still in a way no policeman had ever looked at either of them before. A coolly watchful, slightly contemptuous stare, interrupted by one man turning to say something to the other, at which both grinned. Vida was conscious of wishing that she had come in her usual clothes--above all, that Janet had not raked out that 'jumble sale' object she had perched on her head. The wearer of the incriminatory hat, acting upon some quite unanalyzed instinct to range herself unmistakably on the side of law and order, paused as they were passing the two policemen and addressed them with dignity. 'Is it safe to stop and listen for a few minutes to these people?' The men looked at Mrs. Fox-Moore with obvious suspicion. 'I cawn't say,' said the one nearest. 'Do you expect any trouble?' she demanded. There was a silence, and then the other policeman said with a decidedly snubby air-- 'It ain't our business to go _lookin'_ fur trouble;' and he turned his eyes away.