However, Senator Marshall so far accepted Jacqueline Kent's challenge as to arise in his place. Bowing, he said blandly: "I never argue a point with a woman." And first his retort was greeted with a murmur of indignation and then of renewed laughter. Gazing directly into his face, Jack protested: "But, Senator Marshall, do you not consider that the day has passed for failing to argue points with women? We are voters and if points cannot be argued, at least certain questions must be made plain. To-night we are in a Woman's Club built largely with the idea of offering women the opportunity to find out some of the problems they intend to understand." A few moments later, having received no reply from Peter Stevens, who seemed to have chosen to ignore her request, closing her speech more eloquently than she had begun it, in the midst of friendly applause, Jack bowed and withdrew from the platform. A little later amid a group of friends and acquaintances unconsciously she still held the center of the stage. "You were not so bad as I expected, Jack, although I was a little disappointed in you," Frieda found time to murmur, feeling in the midst of her pessimism a great sense of relief. Not only was the speech over, but in spite of it Jack was looking extremely pretty and no less feminine than she had previously. Jim Colter simply nodded his head to reveal his satisfaction, while her brother-in-law, Professor Henry Tilford Russell, shook hands, announcing frankly: "You did yourself credit, Jack, not to _attempt_ to make a speech. It is better to talk simply upon a subject until you know more about it, and afterwards for the matter of that." But outside Jacqueline Kent's own family, many of her friends were enthusiastic. "I do not see why we should not ask you to run for an office in the gift of the state of Wyoming some day, Mrs. Kent," the President of the Woman's Club declared in a tone sufficiently loud to be heard by a large group of persons. "No one denies that an American woman, Lady Nancy Astor, is making an excellent member of the British Parliament. Why should we be so much more conservative than England? Moreover, Lady Astor is an American woman." In return Jack laughed, failing to attach any seriousness to the suggestion. "Yes, but unfortunately I have none of Lady Astor's gifts," she responded. "Nevertheless there may be some one in Wyoming who has, and perhaps it would be interesting if Wyoming, one of the first states to give the vote to women, should be represented by a woman in Washington. You would dislike the idea very much, wouldn't you, Senator Marshall?" Senator Marshall, who had come up to shake hands with Jack, nodded vehemently. "I should indeed dislike it; I still am sufficiently old-fashioned enough to believe that woman's place is the home." A voice behind his shoulder interrupted.