He feels he ought to be doing the work, instead of the woman." "Oh, Archey," she said again.

"Can't you begin to see that the average woman has always worked harder than the average man?
You ask any of the women at the factory which is the easiest--the work they are doing now--or the work they used to do." "I keep forgetting that.

But how about this--I hear it all the time.
Suppose the idea spreads and after a while there are millions of women doing work that used to be done by men--what are the men going to do ?" "That's a secret," she laughed.

"But I'll tell you some day--if you're good--" The friendly words slipped out unconsciously, but for some reason her tone and manner made his heart hammer away like that powerful downward passage of the Anvil Chorus.

"I'll be good," he managed to say.
Mary hardly heard him.
"I wonder what made me speak like that," she was thinking.