"You must be crazed, May, to think of such a thing. I go to a school meeting! If there is one type of woman I dislike more than another, it's the one to be found on platforms." "I had not thought of you on a platform exactly. It only occurred to me that you would give Mr. Curzon your moral support, as your sympathies go with him. You carry weight, you see," which was true in more senses than one. Mrs. Webster put the most favourable interpretation upon the phrase. "Of course, if you really think it my duty, May," she said, softening visibly, "and would come with me----" "Oh, I intend going anyhow," interposed May, carelessly. "It's such a new departure for you to take a prominent part in parish things," exclaimed Mrs. Webster. "Oh, parish has nothing to do with it! I'm going as a disinterested spectator to see the two earnest ones fight it out." "My dear!" remonstrated her mother in a shocked tone. "If I have a bias it's in favour of the rector. I don't pretend to understand the merits of voluntary versus board schools; but, as you say, a clergyman is always right--most probably Mr. Curzon's is the better cause, and most certainly he is the better man." "Dear, dear; and we shall have to dine at seven, and keep as we are, I suppose?" with a glance at the stately folds of her brocade dress. "Yes; we won't treat a school meeting like a theatre," said May, laughing. "Will it be considered unduly flippant on my part to go in this muslin? or ought I to wear black, as at a funeral?" "It cannot signify in the least; a change of dress would not alter your flippant mind," replied her mother, with unusual smartness. "Dear Mr. Curzon has really convinced me that it is a most important subject, so I don't mind making a sacrifice for once in a way." "By dining an hour earlier than usual and not changing your dress! All right, mother; I'll order the carriage for ten minutes to eight. We may as well be punctual." The back benches of the schoolroom were crowded to overflowing when May and her mother entered that evening. "It's very hot, May. I'm not sure that I can stay," said Mrs. Webster, pausing in the doorway. "Oh yes, mother; we'll see it through to the bitter end," said May, in an undertone. "There are seats in the front." Mrs. Webster picked her way daintily through the crowd, and Mr. Lessing, who was seated at the end of one of the desks, stood up to let her pass. May's skirt caught against a nail, as she followed, and Paul bent to set it free; but as May turned smiling to thank him, it gave her a faint shock of surprise to read the dislike that found expression in his eyes. Her smile faded, and she passed on her way with a haughty little bow. "I wonder why he hates me? I am not aware that any man has ever viewed me with honest dislike before," she thought, as she took her seat by her mother.