"The position has its disadvantages. You have no family influence behind you; nothing to fall back upon. If you can't make good your footing you must go down. It's curious that just before I came over here a lady I met in Vancouver expressed an opinion very like yours. She said it must be pleasant to feel that one was, to some extent at least, master of one's fate." "Then she merely explained my meaning more clearly than I have done." "One could have imagined that she has everything she could reasonably wish for. If I'm not transgressing, so have you. It's strange you should both harbour the same idea." "I don't think it's uncommon among young women nowadays. There's a grandeur in the thought that one's fate lies in the hands of the high unseen powers; but to allow one's life to be moulded by--one's neighbours' prejudices and preconceptions is a different matter. Besides, if unrest and human striving were sent, was it only that they should be repressed?" Vane sat silent a moment or two. He had noticed the brief pause and fancied that she had changed one of the words that followed it. He did not think it was her neighbours' opinions she most chafed against. "It's not a point I've been concerned about," he replied at length. "In a general way, I did what I wanted." "Which is a privilege that is denied to us." Evelyn spoke without bitterness, and added a moment later: "What do women who are left to their own resources do in Western Canada?" "Some of them marry; I suppose that's the most natural thing," said Vane with an air of reflection that amused her. "Anyway, they have plenty of opportunities. There's a preponderating number of unattached young men in the newly-opened parts of the Dominion." "Things are different here, or perhaps we want more than they do across the Atlantic," said Evelyn. "What becomes of the others?" "They wait in the hotels; learn stenography and typewriting, and go into offices and stores." "And earn just enough to live upon meagrely? If their wages are high, they must pay out more. That follows, doesn't it?" "To some extent." "Is there nothing better open to them?" "No," said Vane thoughtfully; "not unless they're trained for it and become specialised. That implies peculiar abilities and a systematic education with one end in view: you can't enter the arena to fight for the higher prizes unless you're properly armed. The easiest way for a woman to acquire power and influence is by a judicious marriage. No doubt it's the same here." "It is," replied Evelyn smiling. "A man is more fortunately situated." "I suppose he is. If he's poor, he's rather walled in, too; but he breaks through now and then. In the newer countries he gets an opportunity."