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180 certain things which the latter have not yet learnt! And all this in the interest of 'coming generations!' An empty phrase. Is not all that most ridiculous?"

She laughed; but to me her words were painful.

"But then, instead of this, are we to do nothing?"

"Not at all. Let us found homes and refuges: not for the women, but for the children whose mothers are unable to take care of them. And as to the so-called ignominy, that will remain; but we ought to laugh it to scorn. And allow me to add," she went on, in a more earnest tone, "that to loosen in so far as we can all artificial bonds is a far easier and a more natural task than to draw them still tighter. Both roads lead to the same goal,—with the difference that in one case the goal would signify freedom, and in the other slavery."

As she spoke, I remembered what Witold had said to me about her.

She abruptly broke off. "Oh, let's join the company! What will they think of a hostess who neglects her guests so!"

In the drawing-room, Owinski had not