"No, nor that other false theory that it consists in manliness," retorted the Honorary Trier. The entry of Nelly Nimrod put an end to the dispute. In the excitement of the moment no one noticed that the millionaire was still leaning against an epigram. "Good-morning, Miss Dulcimer. I am charmed to make your acquaintance," said Wee Winnie, gripping the President's soft hand with painful cordiality. She was elegantly attired in a white double-breasted waistcoat, a zouave jacket, a check-tweed skirt, gaiters, a three inch collar, a tricorner hat, a pair of tanned gloves and an eyeglass. In her hand she carried an ebony stick. Her hair was parted at the side. Nelly was nothing if not original, so that when the spectator looked down for the divided skirt he was astonished not to find it. Wee Winnie in fact considered it ungraceful and _Divide et Impera_ a contradiction in terms. She was a tall girl, and looked handsome even under the most masculine conditions. "I am happy to make yours," returned the President. "Is it to join the Old Maids' Club that you have called?" "It is. Wherever there is a crusade you will always find me in the van. I don't precisely know your objects yet, but any woman who strikes out anything new commands my warmest sympathies." "Be seated, Miss Nimrod. Allow me to introduce Lord Silverdale--an old friend of mine." "And of mine," replied Nelly, bowing with a sweet smile. "Indeed!" cried Lillie flushing. "In the spirit, only in the spirit," said Nelly. "His lordship's 'Poems of Passion' formed my sole reading in the deserts of China-Tartary." "In the letter, you should say then," said the peer. "By the way, you are confusing me with a minor poet, Silverplume, and his book is not called Poems of Passion but Poems of Compassion." "Ah well, there isn't much difference," said Nelly. "No, according to the proverb Compassion _is_ akin to Passion," admitted Silverdale. "Well, Miss Nimrod," put in Lillie, "our object is easily defined. We are an association of young and beautiful girls devoted to celibacy in order to modify the meaning of the term 'Old Maid.'" Nelly Nimrod started up enthusiastically. "Bravo, old girl!" she cried, slapping the President on the back. "Put me down for a flag. I catch the conception of the campaign. It is magnificent." "But it is not war," said Lillie. "Our methods are peaceful, unaggressive. Our platform is merely metaphorical. Our lesson is the self-sufficiency of spinsterhood. We preach it by existing." "Not exist by preaching it," added Silverdale. "This is not one of the cliques of the shrieking sisterhood?" "What do you mean by the term shrieking sisterhood," said Nelly. "I use it to denote the mice-fearing classes." "Hear, hear," said Lillie. "It is true, Miss Nimrod, that our members are required not to exhibit in public, but only because that is a part of the old unhappy signification of 'Old Maid.'"