The Radical draper did not immediately give way, but his neighbours reminded him of propriety.

Quarrier had just scrutinized the person of the lady about to speak, when her voice fell upon his ears with a pleasant distinctness.
"As it is certainly right," she began, "that a woman should be one of those who return thanks to our lecturer, and as I fear that no other woman present will be inclined to undertake this duty, I will make no apology for trying to perform it.

And that in very few words.

Speaking for myself, I cannot pretend to agree with the whole of Mr.Quarrier's address; I think his views were frequently timid"-- laughter and hushing--"frequently timid, and occasionally quite too masculine.

I heard once of a lady who proposed to give a series of lectures on 'Astronomy from a Female Point of View'" (a laugh from two or three people only), "and I should prefer to entitle Mr.Quarrier's lecture, 'Woman from a Male Point of View.' However, it was certainly well-meaning, undoubtedly eloquent, and on the whole, in this time of small mercies, something for which a member of the struggling sex may reasonably be grateful.