He gave a rather hopeless laugh. "Oh, yes, she is. I haven't the ghost of a chance; besides--" he paused, took off his glasses, and put them on again, with deliberation--"besides, if I had a chance, I'd be a cur to take it. As you know, I had a blow below the belt. A man never quite gets his wind again, after a little affair like mine. It would be great luck for me to have Fred, but what sort of luck would it be for her to spend her life '_amusing_' me?" "Nonsense! I won't listen to such--" she paused, while three girls, romping along, arm in arm, swept past them, down the veranda. "Pretty things, aren't they?" she said, looking after them with tender old eyes; "how lovely Youth is!--even when it does its best to be ugly as to clothes and manners, like two of those youngsters. They didn't even see us, they were so absorbed in being young, bless their hearts! The outside one who bowed is a Wharton girl. She is a charming child, charming! And doing wonderfully at college. But those others--!" "Awful," he agreed. "Cousin Eliza, what's the matter with women, nowadays?" "Perfectly simple. They are drunk!" "Drunk?" "With the sudden sense of freedom. My dear boy, reflect: When you were born--no, you're too young"--he waved a deprecating hand, but he liked the phrase--"when _I_ was born--that's seventy-three years ago--women were dependent upon your delightful sex; so, of course, they were cowards and you were bullies. Oh, yes; there were exceptions! There were courageous women, and henpecked men. And, of course, cowardice didn't always know it was cowardly, and bullying was often nothing but kindness. But you can say what you please, women were not free! They had to do what their men wanted--or quarrel with their families, and strike out for themselves! And what was there for them to do to earn their living? Outside of domestic service, nothing but teaching, sewing, and Sairey Gamp nursing! When I was a girl I did not know enough to teach and I hated sewing. So, if I had wanted to do anything my father and mother didn't approve of, I couldn't have kicked up my heels and said, 'I'll support myself!' Besides, I shouldn't have dared. The Fifth Commandment was still in existence when I was young. But now," she ended, "that's all changed. Girls can kick up their heels whenever they feel like it!" He laughed, and said that Fred Payton had kicked entirely over the traces.