It is
true that Mrs. Stapleton was forty, and her friend but thirty-one; but
the former did all that was possible to compensate for this by adroit
toilette tactics. Both, too, were accustomed to dress in soft
materials, with long chains bearing various emblems; they did their
hair in the same way; they cultivated the same kinds of tones in their
voices--a purring, mewing manner--suggestive of intuitive kittens.
Both alike had a passion for proselytism. But after that the
differences began. There was a deal more in Mrs. Stapleton besides the
kittenish qualities. She was perfectly capable of delivering a speech
in public; she had written some really well-expressed articles in
various Higher periodicals; and she had a will-power beyond the
ordinary. At the point where Lady Laura began to deprecate and soothe,
Mrs. Stapleton began to clear decks for action, so to speak, to be
incisive, to be fervent, even to be rather eloquent. She kept "dear
Tom," the Colonel, not crushed or beaten, for that was beyond the
power of man to do, but at least silently acquiescent in her program:
he allowed her even to entertain her prophetical friends at his
expense, now and then; and, even when among men, refrained from too
bitter speech.
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