“I have the report here,” she said—­and showed them the table of comparative efficiency.

“Remarkable!” said one.

“It only confirms,” said Mary, “what often happened during the war.”

“Perhaps you are working your women too hard.”

“If you would like to go through the factory,” said Mary, “you can judge for yourselves.”

Archey was in the outer office and they took him with them.  They began with the nursery and went on, step by step, until they arrived at the shipping room.

“Do you think they are overworked?” asked Mary then.

The three callers shook their heads.  They had all grown rather silent as the tour had progressed, but in their eyes was the light of those who have seen revelations.

“As happy a factory as I have ever seen,” said one.  “In fact, it makes it difficult to say what we wanted to say.”

They returned to the office and when they were seated again, Mary said, “What is it you wanted to say?”

“We wanted to talk to you about the strike.  As we understand your principle, Miss Spencer, you regard it as unfair to bar a woman from any line of work which she may wish to follow—­simply because she is a woman.”

“That’s it,” she said.

“And for the same reason, of course, no man should be debarred from working, simply because he’s a man.”

They smiled at that.

“Such being the case,” he continued, “I think we ought to be able to find some way of settling this strike to the satisfaction of both sides.  Of course you know, Miss Spencer, that you have won the strike.  But I think I can read character well enough to know that you will be as fair to the men as you wish them to be with the women.”

“The strike was absolutely without authority from us,” said one of the others.  “The men will tell you that.  It was a mistake.  They will tell you that, too.  Worse than a mistake, it was silly.”

“However, that’s ancient history now,” said the third.  “The present question is:  How can we settle this matter to suit both sides?”

“Of course I can’t discharge any of the women,” said Mary thoughtfully, “and I don’t think they want to leave—­”

“They certainly don’t look as if they did—­”

“I have another plan in mind,” she said, more thoughtfully than before, “but that’s too uncertain yet....  The only other thing I can think of is to equip some of our empty buildings and start the men to work there.  Since our new prices went into effect we have been turning business away.”

“You’ll do that, Miss Spencer?”

“Of course the men would have to do as much work as the women are doing now—­so we could go on selling at the new prices.”

“You leave that to us—­and to them.  If there’s such a thing as pride in the world, a thousand men are going to turn out as many bearings as a thousand women!”

“There’s one thing more,” said the second; “I notice you have raised your women’s wages a dollar a day.  Can we tell the men that they are going to get women’s wages?”