'Wait, my dear,' she would promptly reply, 'till I get my furs.'""All the same," said Lloyd seriously, "it would be a terrible life for any woman, and a man should hesitate before asking her to share it.""No society, nothing congenial in environment! Quite impossible!"exclaimed Mrs.Fairbanks with great emphasis."And quite absurd to dream of it.""Then," replied Brown warmly to Lloyd, "the only available men for your Chief, apparently, are hopeless old bachelors or young men, however worthy like myself, who are still unappropriated.""Exactly," said Mrs.Fairbanks with an air of finality.
"But, Mrs.Fairbanks," exclaimed The Don, "what of our soldiers and officers who go to India and other outlandish places? They take their wives along with them, I understand?""That's quite a different thing, Mr.Balfour," said Mrs.Fairbanks.
"These men go out to serve their Queen and country, and it is recognised as the proper thing, and--well, you see, it is quite different.""I must say," exclaimed Helen, fastening to forestall the hot answer she knew to be at The Don's lips, "I agree with Mr.Brown.If a man's work calls him to Greenland, his wife ought to go with him or she ought to be willing to wait his return.""Helen, you speak like a sentimental school-girl," replied Mrs.
Fairbanks with a touch of haughty scorn."Of course if a man is married and duty calls him to a foreign land, he must go.But why should a girl throw away her prospects and condemn herself to a life of obscurity and isolation by attaching herself to a man who chooses to take up some fantastic mission in some outlandish place or other?""Why? Because she loves a man whose duty calls him there," exclaimed Helen, her grey eyes glowing.
"Bravo!" replied Brown."If I see a Western missionary wanting a helpmeet--that's the proper word, I believe--I shall know where to send him.""Nonsense," cried Mrs.Fairbanks quite crossly, "but surely we need not discuss the question any further.""Well, if I may offer an opinion," said The Don in a deliberate, strained voice, "that country is the place for men with enterprise who believe in themselves, and I think no man is throwing his prospects away who identifies himself with it--nor woman either, for that matter.And what is true of other professions ought to be true of the ministry.""I agree," cried Brown, adding wickedly, "just the spot for you, Lloyd.""Why, I should like nothing better," said Lloyd, "if circumstances indicated that my work lay there.""Well, well, what's come to you all?" cried Mrs.Fairbanks, holding up her jewelled hands in despair.
"The Occidental microbe," suggested Brown.
"And the monumental nonsense it is," said Mrs.Fairbanks, "for men of high culture and special training to lose themselves in such a country as that.""But," persisted Brown, "they say that that's the very place for such men.Why, that country is full of high-class chaps--University grads, Lords, Dukes, and such, as well as the professional gambler, and other highly technical experts.The Superintendent declared to-night he wouldn't have any but high-class men hence, Lloyd!" and Brown waved his hand toward that gentleman.
"I have no doubt," said Mrs.Fairbanks with severe deliberation, "that Mr.Lloyd has the good sense to perceive that his special training fits him for something quite different, and I think he will not be mad enough to throw away his brilliant prospects in any such silly manner.But come, let us have some music.Mr.Lloyd, you and Betty sing something for us."As they moved to the piano, Brown looked up at The Don.His handsome, haughty face was set hard and in his eyes burned a light that Brown had often seen there on the football field.
"He's going to tackle and tackle hard, too, poor old chap.Not much chance, though, against that combination of Church and State.""Oh, that we two were Maying," sang Lloyd in his fine tenor voice, with Betty responding in like sentiment.
"Well, I rather hope not," muttered Brown to himself as he crossed the room to where Helen was seated.Pausing a moment beside her he said in a low tone, "The Don has had an offer on the new railway construction in the West--two years' appointment.Go and talk to him about it.Looks fierce, doesn't he?" And Helen, nodding intelligently, lingered a moment and then moved to where The Don sat, while Brown went toward the piano."Must get these youngsters inoculated with the Occidental microbe," he muttered as he took his place beside Mrs.Fairbanks, who was listening with pleased approval to the "Maying" duet, the pauses of which Brown industriously employed in soothing her ruffled feelings.So well did he succeed that when he proffered the humble request that the young ladies should be allowed to accompany him to Shock's church in the morning, Mrs.Fairbanks gave a reluctant assent.
