“It struck me,” Raine was saying, “that culture in America was chiefly in the hands of the women--more so even than it is in our own strictly business circles. And nearly all New York is one great business circle.”
“Were you long in the States, sir?” asked Mr. Skeogh, who had been silent for some time.
“Oh no,” said Raine, looking over towards him, “only a few weeks. My remarks are from the merest superficial impressions.”
“I do not like the country,” said Frau Schultz, thus making the topic a fairly general one. “There is no family life. The women are idle. They are not to my taste.”
“What a blessing!” murmured Katherine in a low voice, to which Raine replied by an imperceptible smile. But aloud she said: “I don't think American women are idle. They give their wits and not their souls to housekeeping. So they order their husbands' dinners and see to the washing of their babies just as well as other women; but they think that these are duties that any rational creature can perform without letting them absorb their whole interests in life.”
“A woman's duty is to be a good housewife,” said Frau Schultz dictatorially, in her harshest accent. “In Germany it is so.”
“But is not the party of progress in Germany trying to improve the position of women?” asked Mr. Wanless with a securing grip of his eyeglass.
“It cannot be improved,” said Frau Schultz.
“That is a matter of opinion,” replied Mr. Wanless. “When elegant ladies have _Damen-lectüre_ especially written for them, and when peasant women are harnessed to a cart by the side of the cow, while the husband walks behind smoking his cigar--I think a little improvement is necessary somewhere.”
He spoke in a clear, authoritative voice, commanding attention.
“Have you been in Germany?” asked Frau Schultz.
“I have been all over the world--travelled continuously for twenty years. Somehow the position of women has interested me. It is an index to the sociology of a country.”
“Which is the most interesting one you know from that point of view?” asked old Mr. Chetwynd, who had been following the conversation.
“Burmah,” replied Mr. Wanless. “It is the anomaly of the East. Germany could learn many lessons from her.”
“Is the position of women very high there?” asked Miss Bunter, timidly, the mention of Burmah having stimulated her interest to the pitch of speaking.