“Of course they would resist.” “It would mean a sex war. They are stronger than we are!” “No, not stronger! Besides, methods of violence, if we come to them, can be used now by women as well as by men. The trigger and the fuse are different from the club. I don’t count on such crude methods. We are in the majority. We shall just wear men out. We can bear more pain than they can.” “But what an immense revolution!” “Yet it has happened. We see it in insect life, don’t we? How did it come about?” “I don’t know.” “But it is there, a fact.” “Yes. All the same, when I had finished reading a book on the ways of bees, I thought that they were detestable little beasts.” “Because they killed off the useless males, and let the queen assassinate her rivals. We are not bees. We shall do better than that.” Her level, full-toned voice had never varied, and she talked with perfect and assured serenity of turning society upside down. She was a fanatic with ideas and a subnormal temperature. She believed what she foresaw. It was like one of the Fates deigning to be conversational in a drawing-room. She rose, and, walking to the window, looked down into the street. “Do you think that women would have perpetrated London? It took man to do that. I must not tire you. Have you everything you want?” “Thank you, everything.” “I will come up and see you again to-morrow.” Eve had plenty of leisure for meditation, and Mrs. Falconer’s theories gave her abundant material for thought. Rest in bed, with good food, and pleasant refinements round her had restored her normal poise, and she found that there was far less edge to her enthusiasm. She was a little shocked by the discovery. The disharmonies of the life that she had been studying had not changed, and she was troubled by this discovery that she did not react as she had reacted two weeks ago. When we are young we are distressed by the subtle transfigurations that overtake our ideals. We hatch so many eggs that persist in giving us ducklings instead of chickens. We imagine that we shall always admire the same things, believe the same beliefs, follow out the strenuous beginnings. When changes come, subtle, physical changes, perhaps, we are astonished at ourselves. So it was with Eve when she discovered that her enthusiasm had passed from a white heat to a dull and more comfortable glow. Accusing herself of inconstancy, lack of sustained purpose, did not explain the change in the least. She tried to convince herself that it was mere sloth, the result of a comfortable bed and good food.