The six stood in the free space in front of the table and looked at Rosalind with significance.

“This,” said Rosalind, “is our hostess, Miss Dorothea Harrison.  Dorothy, I think you’ve met Mrs. Eden, our Treasurer.  This is our secretary, Miss Valentina Gilchrist; Miss Ethel Farmer; Miss Winifred Burstall—­”

Dorothy greeted in turn Mrs. Eden, a pretty, gentle woman with a face of dreaming tragedy (it was she who had defended Rosalind outside the gate); Miss Valentina Gilchrist, a middle-aged woman who displayed a large grey pompadour above a rosy face with turned-back features which, when she was not excited, had an incredulous quizzical expression (Miss Gilchrist was the one who had said they had been led into a trap); Miss Ethel Farmer, fair, attenuated, scholastic, wearing pince-nez with an air of not seeing you; and Miss Winifred Burstall, weather-beaten, young at fifty, wearing pince-nez with an air of seeing straight through you to the other side.

Rosalind went on.  “Miss Maud Blackadder—­”

Miss Blackadder’s curt bow accused Rosalind of wasting time in meaningless formalities.

“Miss—­” Rosalind was at a loss.

The other girl, the youngest of the eight, came forward, holding out a slender, sallow-white hand.  She was the one who had hung with Miss Blackadder in the background.

“Desmond,” she said.  “Phyllis Desmond.”

She shrugged her pretty shoulders and smiled slightly, as much as to say, “She forgets what she ought to remember, but it doesn’t matter.”

Phyllis Desmond was beautiful.  But for the moment her beauty was asleep, stilled into hardness.  Dorothy saw a long, slender, sallow-white face, between sleek bands of black hair; black eyes, dulled as if by a subtle film, like breath on a black looking-glass; a beautiful slender mouth, pressed tight, holding back the secret of its sensual charm.

Dorothy thought she had seen her before, but she couldn’t remember where.

Rosalind Jervis looked at her watch with a businesslike air; paper and pencils were produced; coats were thrown on the little school-desks and benches in the corner where Dorothy and her brothers had sat at their lessons with Mr. Parsons some twelve years ago; and the eight gathered about the big table, Rosalind taking the presidential chair (which had once been Mr. Parsons’ chair) in the centre between Miss Gilchrist and Miss Blackadder.

Miss Burstall and Miss Farmer looked at each other and Miss Burstall spoke.

“We understood that this was to be an informal meeting.  Before we begin business I should like to ask one question.  I should like to know what we are and what we are here for?”

“We, Mrs. Eden, Miss Valentina Gilchrist, Miss Maud Blackadder and myself,” said Rosalind in the tone of one dealing reasonably with an unreasonable person, “are the Committee of the North Hampstead Branch of the Women’s Franchise Union.  Miss Gilchrist is our secretary, I am the President and Miss Blackadder is—­er—­the Committee.”