To add to the overpowering strangeness of my situation, I suddenly realized that the two women who were accompanying me toward Mr. Lister’s home belonged to the two most injured classes in the women’s panorama. One was an old maid, and the other had been a courtesan. This discovery revived in my mind the deep remorse which I had felt in beholding their pathetic pageant. I remember weakly trying to decide in my mind which of the two had been most cruelly injured by man. I longed to throw my arms around them both, but I scarcely dared to look into their faces as we walked slowly along. At last, as I stood at the door of Mr. Lister’s house, I raised my eyes to theirs. “Forgive me,” I said to the old maid. “Forgive me,” I said to the courtesan. They made no reply, but a serene light, unmixed with any bitterness, shone in their eyes and gave me comfort. As they turned away after leaving me at the door of Mr. Lister’s house, I followed them wistfully with my eyes. They had wound their arms about each other like sisters, and without a single backward glance, were walking toward the bridge. I have no recollection how I passed the night that ensued, but I suppose I must have slept. I remember that Mr. Lister had retired when I entered the house, and as I felt no inclination for conversation, it was a relief to me to seek the solitude of my room. The day on which the ballots were to be cast dawned as all other days of great import to the human days have dawned. Although it was a day that was to decide a question never before conceived of, and one that involved the possible extinction of the human race, it was not marked by any demonstration of any kind. On the contrary, the conspicuous thing about the day, making it totally unlike any previous balloting in the world’s history, was the noiselessness with which everything was conducted. There were no harangues upon the street corners, no attempt at persuasion anywhere, not even any inquiry among men as to how individuals were going to vote. Each man seemed wholly wrapped in his own thoughts, but there was a stern directness of manner, a total absence of any appearance of vacillation, that showed that the time for the decision was ripe. The system of voting was the Australian, and how each man was to vote was a secret known only to his own soul. After spending some time with Mr. Lister in visiting the polling-places, I returned to the house to pass the day as best I could in his library.